Text messaging reminders for influenza vaccine in primary care (v1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A text messaging intervention to increase influenza vaccine uptake in patients aged under 65 in clinical risk groups: three feasibility trials in primary care
IRAS ID
128713
Contact name
Liam Smeeth
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Research summary
Influenza causes a substantial burden to the NHS and the UK as a whole. Influenza vaccine is safe and effective but is required annually to account for changes in the circulating strain of virus. In 2012, the UK government recommended that at least 75% of elderly people (aged 65+) and 75% people under 65 with certain chronic conditions (e.g. chronic heart disease, diabetes, asthma, etc) should be vaccinated.
While primary care practices are achieving targets for the elderly, they are under-performing in patients with chronic conditions, missing a third of eligible patients in 2011/12. Therefore strategies to increase flu vaccine uptake in these patients are required.
Text messaging is cheap and frequently used in the NHS to reduce appointment non-attendance, and is already being used in some practices for flu vaccine reminders. However, there has been no trial assessing its effectiveness. Therefore, we propose a trial of a text message flu vaccine reminder in patients aged under 65 who have a chronic condition.
This study will be conducted in primary care practices in three settings: (1) among practices contributing data to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), (2) among practices contributing data to ResearchOne, (3) among practices in London using iPlato. The study will run from August 2013 to May 2014.
Consenting general practices will be randomised to either standard care (meaning they can go ahead with their seasonal flu campaign as planned), or to receive additional resources allowing them to send a targeted text messaging campaign to eligible patients aged under 65 and with a chronic condition. These patients will receive one text message encouraging them to receive a flu vaccine. Vaccine uptake will be ascertained through the anonymised patient medical records.REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/0872
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion