Text message appointment reminders - diabetic retinopathy screening
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Adapting text message appointment reminders to improve attendance at diabetic retinopathy screening
IRAS ID
193482
Contact name
Colin Bicknell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
B1262FI0114915, Unique market reference number for indemnity cover, provided by Gallagher London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
This study would adjust the text message reminders sent to diabetic patients in north central London for their annual eye screening appointment. These screenings are important as diabetics are at increased risk of developing complications with their vision, and even losing their sight completely. Early detection and treatment of these complications - the main one being called retinopathy - is relatively simple and cheap, and known internationally as being an effective and relatively inexpensive way of preventing avoidable blindness in diabetics.
This study would only focus on those diabetic patients covered by the NHS screening programme in north central London, and specifically only at increasing attendance among those who had already missed at least two of their previous annual eye screening appointments. Research indicates that these patients could benefit the most from screening, and early intervention to prevent diabetic blindness.
All patients involved in the study would continue to be invited to appointments as normal, with the same invitation letter. The text message reminder is sent a few days before the appointment. Half of the study group would continue to receive this normal text, as a 'control'. This message simply states the appointment date, time, location and contact number.
This study would evaluate whether a small adjustment to this wording of the text message sent to the other half of the group could help improve the attendance rates of these patients, who are unlikely to attend their appointment. New wording would state: "Diabetes harms eyes before you notice-come to avoid blindness".
As the cost of altering the text message would be negligible, any statistically significant improvement in attendance rates would provide an ongoing, and highly cost-effective, way for screening services to successfully reach more diabetics, potentially saving their sight. If there is no improvement, it will at least point other studies in a different direction.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0596
Date of REC Opinion
7 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion