Defining an evidence base for the use of advice and guidance referrals

Building an evidence base for the use of ADvice and GuidancE Referrals at the primary-secondary care interface – a multistage mixed-methods study

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN12647415

Enrollment

Registered

2024-07-29

Start date

2024-07-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2026-05-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Defining an evidence base for the use of advice and guidance referrals Other

Interventions

The BADGER study will interview up to 75 patient people. This will include 30 patients who have had Advice and Guidance used in their care, 40 clinical staff who use Advice and Guidance in their work

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 114 Years

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Patients: Adult patients (18 years or over) registered at a participating practice with an episode of A&G recorded in their electronic health record in the last 3 months, and have capacity to consent to an interview. 2. PCCs: participants will be eligible if they currently work in the NHS and are users of A&G. 3. SCSs: participants will be eligible if they currently work in the NHS and are users of A&G. 4. Commissioners: participants will be eligible if they currently work in the NHS and are familiar with its use at Trust / local System level.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Patients: participants will be excluded if they do not have capacity to consent for themselves, or are unable to meaningfully communicate about their experiences in an interview. If English is not their first language, translation services will be used so as not to exclude due to language barriers. 2. PCCs, SCSs, Commissioners: participants will be excluded if they have no experience or knowledge of using A&G.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Semi-structured interviews will be conducted using topic guides co-developed by and in agreement with our PPIE group and collaborating stakeholders. Topic guides will explore patient interviewees’ experiences and perceptions of the use of A&G during and after the consultation process, and aspects of an ‘ideal’ interaction between patients and health care professionals in relation to the use of A&G. Clinician participants will be interviewed around their own experiences and perceptions of the A&G process. Topic guides will be used flexibly to allow interviewers to explore any unexpected findings and enable comparison between accounts during analysis. Interviews will be digitally recorded with consent. Audio-recordings of interviews will be transcribed and anonymised before analysis. A reflexive thematic analysis approach will be taken to obtain a rich and contextualised understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the use of A&G in patient care at the primary secondary care interface. Interviews are likely to last between 30 and 90 minutes and will be single events. There will be no follow-up/longitudinal interviews. Participants will be free to pause or stop their interview at any point without any expectation to continue. It will be made clear that interviewers are not able to provide clinical advice and will advise participants to seek support from their own clinical teams if necessary. An inductive, reflexive thematic analysis will be carried out on the data following the principles outlined by Braun & Clarke.The data will be analysed within the participant groups, and as a complete dataset to holistically explore the experiences and interactions of the participants, and to identify any patterns and consistencies across the accounts.	—

Measure

Time frame

Semi-structured interviews will be conducted using topic guides co-developed by and in agreement with our PPIE group and collaborating stakeholders. Topic guides will explore patient interviewees’ experiences and perceptions of the use of A&G during and after the consultation process, and aspects of an ‘ideal’ interaction between patients and health care professionals in relation to the use of A&G. Clinician participants will be interviewed around their own experiences and perceptions of the A&G process. Topic guides will be used flexibly to allow interviewers to explore any unexpected findings and enable comparison between accounts during analysis. Interviews will be digitally recorded with consent. Audio-recordings of interviews will be transcribed and anonymised before analysis. A reflexive thematic analysis approach will be taken to obtain a rich and contextualised understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the use of A&G in patient care at the primary secondary care interface. Interviews are likely to last between 30 and 90 minutes and will be single events. There will be no follow-up/longitudinal interviews. Participants will be free to pause or stop their interview at any point without any expectation to continue. It will be made clear that interviewers are not able to provide clinical advice and will advise participants to seek support from their own clinical teams if necessary. An inductive, reflexive thematic analysis will be carried out on the data following the principles outlined by Braun & Clarke.The data will be analysed within the participant groups, and as a complete dataset to holistically explore the experiences and interactions of the participants, and to identify any patterns and consistencies across the accounts.

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
There are no secondary outcome measures	—

Countries

United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactAlice Faux-Nightingale

a.faux-nightingale@keele.ac.uk+44 1782 731750

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: May 30, 2026