Findings from the PLEASANT trial have recently been published in the BMJ.
The study found that the intervention increased the number of prescriptions collected by 30% in August and reduced medical contacts by 5% over 12 months. This reduction in medical contacts lead to a saving per patient of £36.07 for the NHS. The average GP practice in the study had 85 children with asthma. Previous work has shown that there is an increased chance of children with asthma becoming ill after the return to school in September, and the risk is associated with not collecting prescriptions for asthma medications in August.
In the study parents were sent a letter from their GP telling them how going back to school can increase the risk of picking up colds and infections and informing them of the importance of their child taking their medication as prescribed before the return back.
Professor Steven Julious, who led the study, said
"The intervention is a simple to implement letter from a family doctor that helped to increase prescription uptake in school age children at an important time for them just before the return to school. Although the effect on clinical outcomes was small it was shown to be cost saving to the NHS"