Re-engaging patients with hepatitis C into care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Re-engagement of patients with previously diagnosed hepatitis C into care
IRAS ID
264618
Contact name
Stephen Barclay
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow And Clyde
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Little is known about the most effect way to re-engage hepatitis C (HCV)-infected patients who are lost to follow up. Previously we have sent letters inviting patients to make another appointment, whilst anecdotally colleagues in other health boards have found phone calls more effective. In other health care settings the use of incentives has been used to improve engagement, however none of these approaches has been robustly evaluated in HCV.
With this research we aim to evaluate relative impact of each of these approaches. Patients who have previously been referred to our HCV treatment centres (at times when treatment was less effective) will be randomly selected to receive 3 letters: i) A standardised letter outlining the benefits of new treatments and inviting the patient to phone to make an appointment ii) A standardised letter that in addition indicates that we will give a follow up phone call to arrange an appointment if we haven’t heard from them within 4 weeks (with an option to opt out) and iii) a standardised letter that in addition offers a £20 high street shopping voucher for making and keeping an appointment.
The 3 approaches will be compared according to the number of patients who attend for an appointment, as well as the number who commence treatment.REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
19/WS/0089
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion