Patient search after a referral starts with a name. The letter says who to see, so the patient types that doctor's name into a search bar. On 30 September 2026 I ran 30 of those name searches. The practice's own website never came first. I also read 89 Australian specialist practice websites. 49 speak to the referring GP. Only 34 tell the patient holding the letter what to do with it. None answered all four questions a referred patient has. Here is what they see, and what to fix.
What does a patient search after a GP referral?
They search the name on the letter.
Many searches for a clinic start with a problem. "Knee pain near me." "Skin check Perth." My post on what patients Google before booking covers those. A referral changes the search. The GP has already chosen the doctor. The patient walks out holding a letter with a name and a specialty at the top.
So I typed 30 of those names, the way a patient would. "Dr" plus the name plus the specialty. Each doctor consults at a practice in my sample. Here is what came up first.
One health directory alone took the top spot 13 times. The practice's own site did show up somewhere in the first ten results for 29 of the 30 names. But its first appearance sat at a median of seventh.
Why does your homepage never see that search?
Because a name search lands on a person, and a homepage is about the practice.
When a practice page did appear, it was often the wrong door for this reader. In 17 of the 29 cases, the first practice page in the results was a profile, an About page or a service page. It was not the homepage. The homepage did not make the first ten results at all for 8 of the 30 names. It made the top three once.
That changes where your effort should go. The referred patient meets your practice on a doctor's profile page, or on a directory listing that links to it. Your homepage may be beautiful. This patient may never see it.
You cannot control what a directory or a hospital says about your doctors. You can do two things. Check that each listing shows the right phone number, address and booking route. Then make the profile page on your own site do the whole job. My post on what patients read on a clinic's About page found the same pattern from the other side: the page about the people carries more weight than most practices think. For the Google side of a listing, see local SEO for doctors.
What does a referred patient need to know?
Four things, and most sites answer none of them.
A referred patient is past the "who should I see" stage. Their questions are practical:
- How do I get this letter to you?
- How long does it last?
- How long will I wait?
- What will the first appointment cost?
I read the websites of 89 private specialist practices across 16 specialties, found through searches in ten cities and regional centres. That was 509 pages and 189,953 words. Here is how many answered each question, anywhere on the pages I read.
45 of the 89 sites answered none of the four. 25 answered one. 12 answered two. 7 answered three. None answered all four.
Whether a referral is needed at all is a separate question. I measured that one on 59 clinic sites in the questions patients ask AI before they ask a clinic. This post starts after the letter is written.
Who is your referral page written for?
On most sites, the doctor who wrote the letter.
49 of the 89 sites had a section for referring doctors. That meant a "For doctors" page, a referral pad to download, a referral form, or an electronic address for secure messaging. That is good practice. GPs need it.
The patient got less. Only 34 sites told the person holding the letter how to get it to the practice. 30 sites spoke to the GP but never told the patient how to get the letter to them. One line, word for word, shows the tone: "Referring medical practitioners may download a referral pad here".
The homepage makes the gap wider. GP-facing links or text sat on 33 homepages. The patient's route sat on 7.
The sites that got it right were short and plain. Some lines, word for word:
- "If you have a referral, you may email it to us".
- "Ask your GP to send it to our referrals inbox, or upload it yourself when you book".
- "Referrals can be sent to us prior to your appointment or brought in on the day of appointment".
- "If your GP or specialist has already sent a referral to us, we will contact you", followed by a time frame of two to three business days.
That last one does two jobs. It tells the patient the letter may already be with you. And it tells them when to expect a call, so they do not ring reception three times.
How long does a referral last, and do sites say so?
Medicare sets the default, and only 19 of the 89 sites said what it is.
The rule is in the Medicare Benefits Schedule explanatory note on referrals. A referral from a specialist or consultant physician "is valid for 3 months". A referral from anyone else, such as a GP, "is valid for a period of 12 months, unless the referring practitioner indicates that the referral is for a period more or less than 12 months". The note gives examples: "3, 6 or 18 months or valid indefinitely".
There is one detail almost every site left out. The period "is taken to commence on the date of the specialist's or consultant physician's first service covered by that referral". So the clock starts at the first appointment. It does not start on the day the GP wrote the letter.
That matters to a patient on a long waiting list. A letter written months before the first visit has not lost those months. Only 2 of the 19 sites said so. One put it perfectly: "Your GP referral is valid for 12 months from the date you first see the specialist, not the date it was issued by the GP".
Not one of the 19 put the referral period on its homepage. It lived in FAQs and patient information pages. Those pages are fine, as long as the profile page links to them.
Should you publish your wait time and your fee?
Yes, if the numbers are true and you keep them current. Few practices do.
Only 10 of the 89 sites gave a concrete wait or call-back time. They ranged from days to months. Some lines, word for word:
- "The wait time for an initial appointment is approximately 3-6 weeks".
- "we have a waiting time of 4 to 7 months for new patients".
- "Patients are usually seen within 1-2 weeks of referral".
A long wait sounds like bad news to publish. But the referred patient will find out anyway. If your site says it plainly, they can plan, or ask their GP about another option. If it does not, they learn it from reception, after they have already chosen you. Keep the wording qualified. "Usually" and "approximately" are doing important work in those lines. A wait you cannot promise should never read like a promise.
Only 7 of the 89 published the fee for a first consultation. One line, word for word: "A consultation with a dermatologist costs $330 (rebate $81)". That is clear and exact. Ahpra's advertising guidelines list advertising that "contains price information that is unclear, inexact or vague" as likely to breach the National Law. So if you publish a fee, publish the actual figure and what it covers.
Watch the rebate line too. Another site wrote "(Medicare rebate available with GP Referral)". A rebate depends on the patient's eligibility and a current referral. Add "if you are eligible", or name the conditions. My post on the clinic pricing page covers fee pages in more depth.
What should a doctor's profile page say to a referred patient?
Everything the four questions ask, on the page the name search finds.
Add a short block to every doctor's profile page. Call it "Referred to this doctor?" or similar. Keep it under 120 words. Each line on the right below is written to be used as it stands, once the facts are true for your practice.
| The patient's question | Write this on the profile page | Why it holds up |
|---|---|---|
| How do I get my referral to you? | "Have a referral? Email it to us or upload it here. Your GP can also send it to us directly. We will call you to book." | It names every route, and it says who acts next. |
| How long does it last? | "A GP referral usually lasts 12 months, counted from your first appointment here. Referrals from some other doctors last 3 months. Your letter may state its own period. Not sure? Call us and we will check." | It matches the Medicare note, and it says when the clock starts. |
| How long will I wait? | State your usual wait for a new patient, in weeks, with the month you checked it. Add "Your GP can call us if your referral is urgent" if that is how you triage. | A dated, qualified figure is honest. An open promise is not. |
| What will it cost? | Your first consultation fee as an exact figure, then: "A Medicare rebate may apply if you are eligible and hold a current referral." | Exact price, and no rebate absolute. |
| What do I bring? | "Please bring your referral letter, your Medicare card, any recent scans or test results, and a list of your medicines." | Several sites already do this well. |
Then link the block to your full patient information page. And keep the GP section too. The referring doctor needs it. The patient needs their own version, in their own words.
Want the whole site read this way? The All Clear Audit quotes each page, names the gap, and writes the replacement. If you need the pages rewritten, see website copy for health practices.
How did I measure this, and what can it not tell you?
The method is short, and every page read was kept so it can be checked.
Method. Practice sites: 106 first-party private specialist practice websites found through 18 neutral searches on 30 September 2026, such as "cardiologist Sydney private practice referral", "dermatologist Melbourne clinic" and "general surgeon Sunshine Coast hernia gallbladder". The searches covered cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, ENT, rheumatology, neurology, urology, paediatrics, ophthalmology, respiratory and sleep medicine, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynaecology, vascular and general surgery. Directories, hospitals, hospital specialist finders and "best of" lists were left out. For each site I read the page the search returned, the homepage, and up to six linked pages chosen by the same keyword rule, such as referral, patient, fees, FAQ and team pages. 89 sites could be read: 509 pages and 189,953 words. 17 could not, because they timed out, blocked me or loaded no text. Scripts found candidate sentences, and every count was then read by hand in context and recorded with a verbatim quote. No practice or doctor is named here.
Name searches. 30 doctors who consult at practices in the sample. One query each, "Dr" plus the name plus the specialty, on 30 September 2026, with the top ten results recorded. One query added the city because the name is common. A 31st name was dropped because its results pointed to a sister practice with a different name. The search tool I used is a general web search. It is not Google Australia, and it was run from outside Australia. Results in Google, on a phone in Brisbane, will differ in detail.
Now the limits.
- This is 89 sites and 30 searches on one day. Sites and results change.
- I read up to eight pages per site. A practice may answer a question on a page I did not read, or in a booking form.
- 16 medical specialties in ten places are a sample. Allied health practices that take referrals were not included.
- "Answers the question" means the answer was written on the page. A phone number to call and ask was not counted.
- This is general information about websites and advertising rules. It is not legal advice about your practice.
Prefer the short version? The findings are in an eight-slide web story. If you would rather talk it through, book a call.
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