Quick answer
Do not use one template for everything. Build a small set of templates around the documents your clinic produces most often, then improve them from real sessions.
Start with your highest-volume work
List the documents your team creates every day. Common examples include:
Initial assessment notes.
Follow-up notes.
SOAP notes.
GP referral letters.
Patient letters.
Insurance or medico-legal letters.
Discharge summaries.
Start with the one that costs the team the most time or causes the most editing.
When to create separate templates
Create separate templates when the audience, structure, or level of detail changes.
Initial assessment and follow-up notes should usually be separate.
Clinical notes and GP letters should usually be separate.
Patient-friendly summaries should usually be separate from clinician-facing documentation.
Short admin notes should not share a template with detailed clinical reports.
A practical starter set
For an MSK or physiotherapy clinic, a sensible starter set is:
MSK Initial Assessment: detailed history, objective findings, assessment, plan, safety-netting, and follow-up.
MSK Follow-up: progress, response to treatment, objective reassessment, plan changes, and next steps.
GP Referral Letter: reason for referral, relevant findings, concern, and clear request.
Patient Summary: plain-English explanation, exercises or advice, and follow-up plan.
How to improve templates
Use the template on a real session.
Review what you keep editing manually.
Turn repeated edits into clearer headings or bracketed instructions.
Regenerate a past session to test the change.
Only roll the template out to the wider team once the output is stable.
When not to overbuild
A clinic does not need dozens of templates on day one. Too many templates make selection harder. Start with 3 to 5 high-value templates, then add more only when a repeated workflow needs its own structure.