Name:	MSS
Title:	Multiple Symptom Study
Researchers:	Dr Allison Worth, Prof Michael Sharpe, Prof David Weller, Wendy Marsden PhD
Funding Body:	CSO
Funding Awarded:	£49,954
Start Date:	01/10/2009
End Date:	31/05/2010

 

Aims:

To evaluate the recruitment, measurement and intervention components in a pilot trial of a GP with Special Interest intervention for patients aged 18-65 who have multiple medically unexplained symptoms associated with increased healthcare use .

Design:

A two arm parallel group randomised controlled pilot trial.

Patients:

Patients who have been repeatedly referred to outpatient clinics, do not have a serious physical illness or disability and have at least one coded entry in their medical records pointing to medically unexplained symptoms; and who also score 10 or more on the PHQ-14 measure of somatisation.

Interventions:

Usual Care:

All patients will receive their usual clinical management by their GPs.

Usual Care plus The Symptoms Clinic:

The Symptoms Clinic will comprise four appointments with a GP with Special Interest, one of 60 minutes and three of 15 minutes in which the patient’s clinical history, illness attributions, and key problems will be addressed using an approach based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy.

Outcomes:

The feasibility and acceptability to patients of the Symptoms Clinic assessed observationally and by semi-structured interviews at 12 weeks. Outcome data relating to symptoms will be collected from patients 12 weeks after randomisation.