Reducing reattendance at a GP surgery co-located with an A&E

A randomised controlled trial investigating whether a letter and leaflet based on behavioural insights can reduce re-attendance rates at a GP surgery co-located within an A&E department

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN79703462

Enrollment

2800

Registered

2015-05-21

Start date

2015-03-30

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2018-06-18

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

Conditions

Non-urgent re-attendance at an on-site GP at an A&E in Medway Not Applicable

Interventions

Control arm: no letter Intervention arm: a letter and leaflet sent from the A&E-sited GP service to the patient shortly after attendance suggesting alternative local services which may be more appropr

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. All ages 2. All genders 3. Referred to MedOCC (on-site GP) from A&E only during period of intervention

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Did not get referred back to A&E by MedOCC 2. Did not die during the admission 3. Was not referred to MedOCC (on-site GP) for investigation of DVT

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Re-attendance (yes/no binary outcome) within the 6 months following their initial attendance. This data will be extracted from routine healthcare data collected by the GP surgery MedOCC. Data collectors will look at individual patient records and count the number of attendances recorded at MedOCC in the 6 months following each patient’s initial attendance (i.e., when they were recruited into the study). Data will be extracted for each patient individually by running manual searches once per patient at the 6-month point (182 days after initial admission). A binary outcome (reattended? Yes/no) will be derived from the number of attendances in this 6-month period.	—

Measure

Time frame

Re-attendance (yes/no binary outcome) within the 6 months following their initial attendance. This data will be extracted from routine healthcare data collected by the GP surgery MedOCC. Data collectors will look at individual patient records and count the number of attendances recorded at MedOCC in the 6 months following each patient’s initial attendance (i.e., when they were recruited into the study). Data will be extracted for each patient individually by running manual searches once per patient at the 6-month point (182 days after initial admission). A binary outcome (reattended? Yes/no) will be derived from the number of attendances in this 6-month period.

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Mean number of re-attendances within the 6 months following initial attendance, comparing control and intervention groups (data extracted in the same way as above) 2. Primary and secondary outcomes will be analysed for an interaction with sex, deprivation (using first half of postcode as proxy) and age	—

Countries

United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactLaura Freeman

Outcome results

None listed

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