Purpose: To establish whether information leaflets and appointment reminders improve attendance for diagnostic colposcopy.
Design & setting: Randomised controlled trial in an inner city colposcopy clinic.
Participants: 500 women newly referred to the colposcopy clinic with abnormal cervical screening smear results were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group using computer-generated numbers.
Intervention: 233 women referred for colpoposcopy were sent a comprehensive information leaflet with their appointment details and additionally were sent reminder letters regarding their appointment 7-10 days prior to their appointment date.
Control: 267 women were sent the standard basic information prior to their appointment.
Main outcome measure: Attendance and default rates for diagnostic colposcopy.
Results: Default in the intervention arm was 42 out of 233 (18%) compared with 93 out of 267 (35%) in the control arm.
Conclusion: Improved communication and information in the form of a detailed leaflet and a reminder letter for women with a recently abnormal smear result increased attendance for initial colposcopy assessment.