Table 3 Subthemes of theme III, with illustrative quotes

3a) Maintaining AAA programme standards

"As long as you've got time for it – not to impact on the quality of the triple A screening ..... We've got it (i.e. AAA screening) good, and how we do that, and you know – and the timing we've got, you know, is appropriate for that ….."

(AAA Screening Programme staff, Focus group 2)

"It's always standards, isn't it – you tend to sort of set up your achievable and your acceptable standards – your thresholds um – how they're gonna be monitored. Um I think it is your appointment times, um practicalities, equipment – buying the equipment, whose gonna buy the equipment – whose going to actually um replace the equipment ....."

(AAA Screening Programme staff, Focus group 5)

"If you've got lots of false positives or false negatives then it undermines the whole screening programme ..... so you'd want to know who would be looking at what we're doing, and whether or not it's actually being checked to make sure ..... we need a QA (Quality Assurance) ....."

(AAA Screening Programme staff, Focus group 6)

3b) An opportunity to improve service-delivery

"Could this be a way of getting that letter into – via what's called the Patient Knows Best app, so you can opt into it so you get copies of letters that go to your GP that's about you – whereas the triple A isn't in there – whereas if you're getting funding, if you've got this then the patient could have the letter ….. I mean, you give them the result on the day, but a lot of the time they don't take in a verbal result ….. For certain people, they like to have written results ..... So if you're thinking of electronically doing a lot of stuff, then maybe we can do this ....."

(AAA Screening Programme staff, Focus group 6)

"I think it would benefit us ….. it's an incentive for the GPs – whereas GPs I've found are very dismissive of us when we go. I mean, we do pay for the room, but we're more of an inconvenience at the minute – whereas if GPs are on board with this, and we're doing the service in there ….. So hopefully they'll play their part a bit better than what they do now ….. I think they're gonna be more on board with it and they'll probably welcome us to come around – 'cause also then, we're doing it, they're not having to train up a lot of staff to do it for them ….. it will open, I think, more doors for us ….. I think, this will benefit triple A as well ..... we feel like we're in the way a little bit although we try not to ..... we just think this will be an incentive for them."

(AAA Screening Programme staff, Focus group 6)