Qualitative Evaluation of Telephone Outreach for NHS Health Checks
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Qualitative evaluation of telephone outreach to enhance uptake of NHS Health Checks in more deprived communities
IRAS ID
183354
Contact name
Jeremy Horwood
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD), such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease, are the largest cause of early death, long-term ill health and disability. They are more common in deprived populations and minority ethnic groups.
The national NHS Health Checks programme aims to help prevent CVD. Patients aged between 40 and 74 are invited to a health check to assess their risk of developing CVD and provide support to make healthy lifestyle changes to help reduce CVD risk. NHS Health Checks are conducted by GP practices, who generally invite patients by letter. Evidence suggests that uptake of NHS Health Checks may be lower among more deprived populations and ethnic minority groups. In Bristol, telephone outreach has been developed which involves community workers or interpreting service staff working in GP practices and telephoning patients among communities where risk of CVD is higher, and where patients are less likely to respond to an invitation to attend, to engage them with the Health Checks programme.
This study aims to understand the experiences, views and acceptability of the telephone outreach by conducting one off interviews with patients who have been telephoned and the individuals making the telephone outreach calls. At the end of the telephone outreach call, patients will be asked if they are interested in taking part in an interview. From those that agree, two experienced researchers will interview up to 20 outreach workers and 30 patients (including those that attend a NHS Health Check and those who decline). Interviews will be conducted either by telephone or face-to-face, as preferred by the participant.
The research can help us understand how to improve telephone outreach to increase uptake of the NHS Health Checks programme in communities with greater health needs.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0231
Date of REC Opinion
24 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion