MSK Pathways Study
The study is led by Keele University and delivered in partnership with NHS Birmingham and Solihull. The project is funded by NHS England as part of an SBRI Healthcare grant.
What are we doing?
We are conducting a trial to investigate the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and carbon reduction of using a clinical decision support system in musculoskeletal consultations in primary care.
We will randomise GP practices to either use the clinical decision support system or continue with usual care. Patients who consult with musculoskeletal conditions will be sent questionnaires one week, six weeks, and 12 weeks after their appointment, to see how they are doing. We will also undertake a medical record review at 12 weeks.
Some patients and clinicians from the intervention will be invited to take part in interviews to further explore their experiences of the consultation and clinical decision support system.
Cost-effectiveness and carbon reduction analyses will be undertaken by York Health Economics Consortium.
Who are the research team?
Professor Jonathan Hill
j.hill@keele.ac.uk | +44 (0) 1782 733900
Jonathan is the Chief Investigator of the trial. Jonathan is a Professor in Physiotherapy at Keele, and has led a number of large, randomised controlled trials investigating how musculoskeletal conditions are managed in primary care.
Dr Hollie Birkinshaw
Hollie is the trial manager and qualitative researcher on the study. Hollie has substantial experience in researching how to improve primary care services for musculoskeletal pain.
Dr Roanna Burgess
Roanna is a Consultant Physiotherapist in Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, and a Senior Research Fellow at Keele University. Roanna has extensive experience investigating how to improve services delivering treatment for musculoskeletal conditions.
Dr Adrian Chudyk
a.chudyk@keele.ac.uk | +44 (0) 1782 733969
Adrian is a GP partner in Staffordshire and an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at Keele. Adrian provides general practice expertise and has experience of working in large trials for musculoskeletal pain.
Dr Martyn Lewis
a.m.lewis@keele.ac.uk | +44 (0) 1782 734849
Martyn is the statistician for the trial, who will lead on the randomisation of GP practices and analysis of trial data. Martyn has worked at Keele for 25 years and has extensive expertise of statistics in large clinical trials in primary care.
Who are we working with?
Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board – the GP practices taking part in the study are from the Birmingham and Solihull area. Patients who see their GP in this area may get invited to take part in this study following a visit to their GP practice for a musculoskeletal pain problem.
York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) – YHEC will be undertaking the cost-effectiveness and carbon reduction analyses using data from the trial.
CrossCover – is the developer of the clinical decision support system and is working in partnership with NHS clinical experts within Birmingham and Solihull and Keele University.
For participants
We are recruiting participants for the study from October 2023 to February 2024. Unfortunately, it is not possible to take part in the study unless you have been sent an invitation.
Taking part involves completing online questionnaires at three timepoints:
- Initial questionnaire – sent within the 2 weeks following your consultation this questionnaire covers your experiences about pain, health, the consultation, and treatments received.
- 6 week follow-up – this shorter questionnaire asks about your experience of pain, change in health from the consultation, and work.
- Three month questionnaire – this follow-up questionnaire is very similar to the initial questionnaire, asking about your pain, health, and assessments or treatments received for your pain.
Some participants may be invited to take part in an interview about their experiences of their recent consultation for pain. This is optional and does not affect taking part in the questionnaires.
This study has been reviewed by Yorkshire and Humber – Sheffield Research Ethics Committee and been given favourable ethical opinion (REC reference: 23/YH/0105).
To download the information sheet, please click here (120 KB)
This file may not be suitable for some users of assistive technology. Request an accessible format.
Contact
If you would like more information or to contact to study team, please email research.mskpathways@keele.ac.uk