Targeted Letters to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Department Attendances

Avoidable Emergency Department Attendances Clinical Trial

Official title:

Targeted Letters to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Department Attendances

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02334189
• Other study ID #: 2014055
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• First received: January 6, 2015
• Last updated: January 7, 2015
• Start date: January 2015
• Est. completion date: November 2015

Study information

• Verified date: January 2015
• Source: The Behavioural Insights Team
• Contact: Hannah Behrendt, MPhil, BA
• Phone: +447588482198
• Email: hannah.behrendt[@]behaviouralinsights.co.uk
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United Kingdom: Research Ethics Committee
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The study aims to test whether it is possible to reduce pressure on Emergency Departments by sending a personal feedback letter to people who have recently attended an Emergency Department and whose health issues could likely have been dealt with elsewhere. These attendances clearly have many causes. However, it is likely that some attendances are due to behavioural factors - in other words, the various ways in which users interact with services. This study focuses on one particular behavioural factor: lack of feedback to users making avoidable visits.

The study will take place in collaboration with an NHS hospital trust. Each week during the trial, the hospital trust will identify those Emergency Department attendances in the last seven days which, according to clinical judgement, could have been dealt with elsewhere. Patients will then be randomly selected to receive a letter containing information on alternative healthcare options for non-emergency health concerns. Patient records will be analysed to determine whether the patients who received the letter are less likely to make an avoidable repeat visit to the Emergency Department in the future, compared with patients who received no letter.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 25000
• Est. completion date: November 2015
• Est. primary completion date: November 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults who attended a participating Emergency Department during the trial period and whose attendance was codes as 'No Investigation No Significant Treatment'

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children under the age of 18

• All departments and hospitals other than participating Emergency Departments.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Caregiver), Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Avoidable Emergency Department Attendances
• Emergencies

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Letter
Patients receive an information letter following an avoidable visit to the Emergency Department.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
The Behavioural Insights Team

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Number of avoidable Emergency Department re-attendances (Attendances are classified as avoidable using the 'No Investigation No Significant Treatment' code.)	Attendances are classified as avoidable using the 'No Investigation No Significant Treatment' code.	Measured at 4 months after previous attendance	No