Ashdown HF, Räisänen U, Wang K, et al. Prescribing antibiotics to ‘at-risk’ children with influenza-like illness in primary care: qualitative study. BMJ Open 2016;6:e011497. Owing to a misunderstanding, the correct process required for ethical approval was not followed by the authors, and the reference number for ethical approval provided in the article relates to the sponsorship of the study rather than the decision of the ethics committee. Study documents have retrospectively been reviewed by the University of Oxford Medical Sciences Inter-Divisional Research Ethics Committee who have confirmed that it is probable that the committee would have granted ethical approval (Reference R21617/RE001) and also acknowledge that these documents were reviewed, before the research started, by the University's Clinical Trials and Research Governance (CTRG) team, including the information to be provided to participants and the consent process to be used. The first author acknowledges this oversight and will ensure that the correct procedures are followed in future work.