Out of Hours Study: the effect of weekend and out-of-hours appointments on attendance rates at breast screening

A multicentre randomised controlled study of the effect of weekend and out-of-hours appointments on attendance rates at breast screening

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN70398358

Enrollment

18000

Registered

2009-10-27

Start date

2010-01-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2015-01-13

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

Conditions

Breast cancer screening and prevention Cancer Malignant neoplasm of breast

Interventions

There are no trial drugs or treatments associated with this trial. Women who are due to be invited for breast screening in Manchester and Bristol will be allocated, based on month of birth, to one of

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

Female

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: All women (aged 47-73 at Manchester, 50-70 at Bristol, the age range which is eligible for the screening programme at these sites) scheduled for invitation in batches to their next breast screening appointment by the participating centres.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Does not meet inclusion criteria

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Attendance rate. Comparison will be made between the two major arms of the study, those with a working hours appointment offered, and those with an evening or weekend appointment. Attendance is defined as attending a screening appointment either at the time originally offered, or at an alternative appointment time within 120 days of the original. Data capture will include the appointment date and time offered, and the appointment date and time actually attended (if any).	—

Measure

Time frame

Attendance rate. Comparison will be made between the two major arms of the study, those with a working hours appointment offered, and those with an evening or weekend appointment. Attendance is defined as attending a screening appointment either at the time originally offered, or at an alternative appointment time within 120 days of the original. Data capture will include the appointment date and time offered, and the appointment date and time actually attended (if any).

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Whether the invitee attended the first appointment offered, measured by whether the radiographer records on the NBSS system database that the patient attended the original appointment (5 weeks after the invitation letter was sent out) 2. Comparison of the attendance rates between the four groups for subsets of the invitees. In particular, we shall evaluate the effect of the non-standard appointments at prevalence screen and by age group, but will also look at effects on incidence screens, previous attenders and previous non-attenders. This will be assessed using the attendance data collected from the primary outcome, and compared between the patient subsets.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Whether the invitee attended the first appointment offered, measured by whether the radiographer records on the NBSS system database that the patient attended the original appointment (5 weeks after the invitation letter was sent out) 2. Comparison of the attendance rates between the four groups for subsets of the invitees. In particular, we shall evaluate the effect of the non-standard appointments at prevalence screen and by age group, but will also look at effects on incidence screens, previous attenders and previous non-attenders. This will be assessed using the attendance data collected from the primary outcome, and compared between the patient subsets.

—

Countries

United Kingdom

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026