Nurse telephone triage in general practice

ISRCTN	ISRCTN44885822
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN44885822
Secondary identifying numbers	N0096126080

Submission date: 30/09/2004
Registration date: 30/09/2004
Last edited: 05/07/2018

Recruitment status: No longer recruiting
Overall study status: Completed
Condition category: Other

Prospectively registered

Protocol

Statistical analysis plan

Results

Individual participant data

Plain English summary of protocol

Not provided at time of registration

Contact information

Dr Mark Vorster
Scientific

Regal Chambers Surgery
50 Bancroft
Hitchin
SG5 1LL
United Kingdom

Phone	+44 (0)1462 453232
Email	mark@vorster.freeserve.co.uk

Study information

Study design	Randomised controlled trial
Primary study design	Interventional
Secondary study design	Randomised controlled trial
Study setting(s)	Not specified
Study type	Not Specified
Scientific title	Nurse telephone triage in general practice
Study objectives	Is practice based nurse telephone triage for same day patient requests desirable and cost-effective for a general practice? Objectives: To compare the effect of nurse telephone triage using computerised decision support versus usual receptionist handling of patient requests in terms of GP and nurse time and costs. Design: Randomised trial with a cost analysis from the perspective of the practice. Patients requesting an appointment the same day were randomised to receive nurse telephone triage or usual care. Setting: One mixed urban/semi-rural general practice in the South East of England Subjects: 383 patients were eligible for randomisation, of which 374 agreed to be randomised. Interventions: Nurse telephone triage involved a practice nurse carrying out a telephone consultation using decision support software. Usual care involved the receptionist granting the patient's request.
Ethics approval(s)	Not provided at time of registration
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied	Not Applicable: Service delivery
Intervention	Cost-effectiveness analysis of nurse telephone triage from the perspective of the general practice. Qualitative interviews with all general practitioners and the triage nurse. Consenting patients (N= 385) from one GP practice in Hertfordshire who asked for same day requests were randomised to either nurse triage or usual care. Patients were followed-up for 28 days.
Intervention type	Other
Primary outcome measure	1. Time of nurse and GP contact were collected via TAS software and manual timings 2. Prescription costs for each patient 3. Number of other appointments, such as district nurse, midwife, etc.
Secondary outcome measures	Not provided at time of registration
Overall study start date	01/08/1999
Completion date	31/01/2004

Eligibility

Participant type(s)	Patient
Age group	Not Specified
Sex	Not Specified
Target number of participants	385
Key inclusion criteria	Not provided at time of registration
Key exclusion criteria	Not provided at time of registration
Date of first enrolment	01/08/1999
Date of final enrolment	31/01/2004

Locations

Countries of recruitment

England
United Kingdom

Study participating centre

Regal Chambers Surgery

Hitchin
SG5 1LL
United Kingdom

Sponsor information

Department of Health
Government

Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NL
United Kingdom

Website	http://www.dh.gov.uk/Home/fs/en

Funders

Funder type

Not defined

HertNet/CRIPACC

No information available

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share	No
IPD sharing plan summary	Not provided at time of registration
Publication and dissemination plan	Not provided at time of registration
IPD sharing plan

Study outputs

Output type	Details	Date created	Date added	Peer reviewed?	Patient-facing?
Results article	results	02/10/2004		Yes	No

Editorial Notes

05/07/2018: Internal review