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Prescribing, Off-LabelNCT04051281

CMO Letter to Reduce Inappropriate Antibiotic Prescribing Winter 2019/2020

A study testing Letter in people with Prescribing, Off-Label, run by Public Health England at 1 site in United Kingdom.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This trial aims to reduce inappropriate prescription of antibiotics and broad spectrum antibiotics by general practitioners (GPs) in England. Unnecessary prescriptions are defined as those that do not improve patient health outcomes. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Any age
Conditions the study is for
Prescribing, Off-Label
What is being tested?
Letter
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
2,963 participants
Where
1 siteUnited Kingdom
Study dates
31 Aug 2019to 30 Aug 2020
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages Any age
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • GP practices that prescribed more than 0.919 Antibacterial Items/STAR- PU (5% under the target of 0.965) for the twelve months April 2018 - March 2019

Who cannot join

  • Practices in the 99th percentile of prescribers

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United Kingdom1 site
  • Public Health England

    London, SE1

Other trials in United Kingdom

About this study

Official title: A Letter From the CMO in England to Reduce Antibiotic Prescribing in General Practice: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Monitoring and Feedback (With and Without Graphs), and Social Norms Feedback (Without and Without a Specific Case Study of Patient Harm)

This trial aims to reduce inappropriate prescription of antibiotics and broad spectrum antibiotics by general practitioners (GPs) in England. Unnecessary prescriptions are defined as those that do not improve patient health outcomes. The intervention is to send GPs a letter from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) that gives feedback on their practice's prescribing levels.

There will be three intervention samples:

  1. practices whose prescribing in the past year was under the new target of 0.965 items per STAR-PU but who would exceed the target if they had a 5% increase in prescribing; trial compares prescribing of practices whose GPs receive a letter informing them that their practice's prescribing is just under the new target to that of practices that are not sent a letter
  2. Practices whose prescribing in the past year was above the new target but who not in the top 20% of prescribers; trial compares prescribing of practices whose GPs receive a letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target to practices who get a letter that includes a graph showing their prescribing relative to the target and to practices that are not sent a letter
  3. Practices that are currently in the top 20% of prescribers; trial compares effect on prescribing of a feedback letter with a social norms message (current standard practice for this group) to a letter informing GPs that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target and to a letter with a social norms message, that includes a specific example of a case of patient harm caused by antimicrobial resistance.
Read the detailed description

The study will involve three trials, each conducted as non-blinded randomised controlled trial, with GP practices as the unit of randomisation.

Trial 1 Targeting practices whose prescribing in the past year was under the new target but who would exceed the target if they had a 5% increase in prescribing

  • Control: No letter
  • Intervention: Letter informing them that their practice's prescribing is just under the new target (Letter A) Trial hypothesis: Sending a letter to GPs whose practices are just under the new prescribing target will reduce antibiotic prescribing

Trial 2 Targeting practices whose prescribing in the past year was above the new target but who not in the top 20% of prescribers

  • Control: No letter
  • Intervention 1: Letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target (Letter B1)
  • Intervention 2: Letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target with a graph representing prescribing relative to the target (Letter B2) Hypotheses: (i) Sending a letter to GPs whose practices missed the new prescribing target will reduce their prescribing; (ii) A letter with a graph will be more effective than a letter without a graph.

Trial 3 Targeting practices that are currently in the top 20% of prescribers

  • Control: Current standard practice, a social norms message, that their practice is in the top 20% of prescribers (Letter C1)
  • Intervention 1: Letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target (Letter C2)
  • Intervention 2: Social norms message, that they are in the top 20%, with a specific example of a case of patient harm caused by antimicrobial resistance (Letter C3)

Hypotheses: (i) A letter with a social norms message and a specific example of a case where a patient came to harm will be more effective than a feedback letter without a specific example; (ii) A letter telling GPs that they missed the prescribing target will be no less effective than a letter with social norms feedback

For each letter, there will be two versions, one for practices whose prescribing has increased by > 5% in the previous year, informing them of that their prescribing has increased since the previous year, and one for practices whose prescribing has not been increasing.

The letters will signpost GPs to resources to help address patient demand for inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, recognising that many GPs feel that patients expect antibiotics and that GPs may find it difficult to have the necessary patient conversations, especially within a short consultation. As with previous letters, these letters will advise GPs of actions that they can take to reduce inappropriate prescribing, supporting them to have conversations with patients, and there will be TARGET leaflets enclosed.

Power calculation All trials are powered to detect a 2% reduction in prescribing at a significance level of 0.05 with a power of 80%.

Statistical analysis plan In order to test our hypotheses, the investigators will use a fixed effects panel regression model, with time trends accounting for seasonal effects, to estimate the effect of treatment status on prescribing. The investigators will also run ANCOVAs for each month separately and one covering the whole six months of the trial. Analysis will control for baseline prescribing rates and for whether practices got the version of the letter saying that their prescribing has been increasing.

Being tested
Letter
Keywords
antimicrobial resistance, social norms feedback, behavioural science, feedback and monitoring

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • LetterBehavioural

    Letters sent to GPs in relevant practices (prescribing data is by practice, so the practice is the unit of randomization)

Study groups in NCT04051281
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Just under target controlNo interventionPractices whose prescribing in the past year was under the new target but who would exceed the target if they had a 5% increase in prescribing; no letter sent.
Just under target letterExperimentalPractices whose prescribing in the past year was under the new target but who would exceed the target if they had a 5% increase in prescribing: receive a letter informing of this. Randomization is stratified according to whether their prescribing had increased by > 5% compared to the previous year; those whose prescribing had increased had it mentioned in the letter
Receives: Behavioral: Letter
Over target controlNo interventionPractices whose prescribing in the past year was above the new target but who were not in the top 20% of prescribers; no letter sent * Intervention 1: Letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target (Letter B1) * Intervention 2: Letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target with a graph representing prescribing relative to the target (Letter B2)
Over target letterExperimentalPractices whose prescribing in the past year was above the new target but who were not in the top 20% of prescribers; receive a letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target (Letter B1) Randomization is stratified according to whether their prescribing had increased by > 5% compared to the previous year; those whose prescribing had increased had it mentioned in the letter
Receives: Behavioral: Letter
Over target letter with bar chartExperimentalPractices whose prescribing in the past year was above the new target but who were not in the top 20% of prescribers; receive a letter informing them that their practice's prescribing exceeds the new target, including a bar chart showing their prescribing compared to the target (Letter B1) Randomization is stratified according to whether their prescribing had increased by > 5% compared to the previous year; those whose prescribing had increased had it mentioned in the letter
Receives: Behavioral: Letter
Top 20% feedback letter controlActive comparatorTargeting practices that are currently in the top 20% of prescribers; letters informing them of the percentile they are on--standard practice--(Letter C1) Randomization is stratified according to whether their prescribing had increased by > 5% compared to the previous year; those whose prescribing had increased had it mentioned in the letter
Receives: Behavioral: Letter
Top 20% above target letterExperimentalTargeting practices that are currently in the top 20% of prescribers; letters informing them that their prescribing exceeds the new target (Letter C2) Randomization is stratified according to whether their prescribing had increased by > 5% compared to the previous year; those whose prescribing had increased had it mentioned in the letter.
Receives: Behavioral: Letter
Top 20% feedback letter with specific example of patient harmExperimentalTargeting practices that are currently in the top 20% of prescribers • Control: Current standard practice, a social norms message, that their practice is in the top 20% of prescribers (Letter C1) Targeting practices that are currently in the top 20% of prescribers; letters informing them of the percentile they are on with a specific example of a case of patient harm caused by antimicrobial resistance (Letter C3) Randomization is stratified according to whether their prescribing had increased by > 5% compared to the previous year; those whose prescribing had increased had it mentioned in the letter.
Receives: Behavioral: Letter

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Total antibiotic prescribing in September

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 1 month

  2. Total antibiotic prescribing in October

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 2 months

  3. Total antibiotic prescribing in November

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 3 months

  4. Total antibiotic prescribing in December

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 4 months

  5. Total antibiotic prescribing in January

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 5 months

  6. Total antibiotic prescribing in February

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 6 months

  7. Total antibiotic prescribing in from September-February

    antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU)

    Measured: 6 months

  8. Proportion of practices in each group whose prescribing was under the target

    Whether antibiotic prescribing weighted by Specific Therapeutic group Age-sex Related Prescribing Unit (STAR-PU) for April 2019-March 2020 is under the NHS target of 0.965 items per STAR-PU

    Measured: 8 months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted9 Aug 2019
  2. Study start31 Aug 2019
  3. Primary completion30 Aug 2020
  4. Study completion30 Aug 2020

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Participant
Enrolment
2,963 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT04051281
Sponsor's protocol ID
CMO Letter 2019/20
Status last verified
Sep 2020
First submitted
7 Aug 2019
Last updated
29 Sep 2020
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No: Note that the trial will use publicly available prescribing data, so any researcher should be able to access it.

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Letter in people with Prescribing, Off-Label, run by Public Health England at 1 site in United Kingdom.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 29 Sep 2020. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United Kingdom. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Total antibiotic prescribing in September (time frame: 1 month). The study lists 8 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 29 Sep 2020.

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