Kia ora, My name is Dr Karen Oldfield, I’m a GP and Senior Clinical Research Fellow working with Professor Richard Beasley on a clinical trial for children with asthma. I’m writing to ask for your support with identifying potentially eligible children and their parents through the GP practices in your PHO. The trial The Children’s Anti-inflammatory REliever (CARE) study is a New Zealand-wide randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness and safety budesonide-formoterol (Symbicort Rapihaler) with salbutamol (Ventolin) in children age 5-15 with mild asthma. Eligible children with be enrolled for 1 year. It is funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand and Cure Kids and run by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ). It was approved by the Northern B Health and Disability Ethic Committee (20/NTB/200). I have attached a one-page summary of the study, along with the protocol and ethics committee approval letter for your consideration. More information can be found on our website and the trial registration page. How PHOs can help Working with GP practices and PHOs has been the most effective way of promoting the study to children and their parents, and enrolling those who want to take part. We have recently made changes to the trial to enable children with asthma and their parents to take part entirely virtually, using video conferencing software. This has helped to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the trial, but also improved equity of access; potential participant’s no longer have to live near a research site, they can take part from anywhere in the country. We would therefore like to expand the opportunity to take part to children in your region. With your help and approval, we would like to work with the GP practices in your group to build a query on their patient systems, and then send out an HDEC-approved letter/text to the parents of children who might be eligible. We would follow up directly with any parents/children who are interested. The query is very simple: • •
Children registered at the practice age 5-15 Who have been prescribed a beta adrenergic (salbutamol inhaler) in the last 12 months
GP practices can be reimbursed by MRINZ for their time and resources. We would very much appreciate any support you can provide. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like more information about the study. Ngā mihi nui, Dr Karen Oldfield Professor Richard Beasley
Dr Karen Oldfield Senior Clinical Research Fellow