STUDY PROTOCOL Open Access Action to Support Practices Implement Research Evidence (ASPIRE): protocol for a cluster-randomised evaluation of adaptable implementation packages targeting ‘high impact’ clinical practice recommendations in general practice Thomas A. Willis 1* , Suzanne Hartley 2 , Liz Glidewell 1 , Amanda J. Farrin 2 , Rebecca Lawton 3,4 , Rosemary R. C. McEachan 4 , Emma Ingleson 1 , Peter Heudtlass 2 , Michelle Collinson 2 , Susan Clamp 1 , Cheryl Hunter 1 , Vicky Ward 1 , Claire Hulme 1 , David Meads 1 , Daniele Bregantini 1 , Paul Carder 5 , Robbie Foy 1 and on behalf of the ASPIRE programme Abstract Background: There are recognised gaps between evidence and practice in general practice, a setting which provides particular challenges for implementation. We earlier screened clinical guideline recommendations to derive a set of ‘high impact’ indicators based upon criteria including potential for significant patient benefit, scope for improved practice and amenability to measurement using routinely collected data. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost- effectiveness of a multifaceted, adaptable intervention package to implement four targeted, high impact recommendations in general practice. (Continued on next page) * Correspondence: t.a.willis@leeds.ac.uk 1 Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2016 Willis et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Willis et al. Implementation Science (2016) 11:25 DOI 10.1186/s13012-016-0387-5