What benefits do general practitioners see in electronic links to hospitals, family practitioner committees and community services?

A postal questionnaire concerning attitudes towards, and uses for electronic links was sent to 136 Nottinghamshire general practitioners (GPs) in November 1988 and yielded 128 responses (94%). While electronic links to Family Practitioner Committees (FPCs) and local hospitals were viewed positively by 90% of the responders, such links to community services were not so welcome. Overall most doctors rated 'very useful' the transmission of laboratory and x-ray results, the receipt of interim hospital discharge letters, and the booking of open access appointments. Computer users, who made up 35% of the sample, were statistically more likely to be positive towards links to FPCs and hospitals, and most of them rated 'very useful' examples of electronic information transfer, compared to non-users. This survey encourages plans to electronically link together disparate sections of the health service. Practices already computerised, of which there are surprisingly large numbers, are the obvious first sites and were the most enthusiastic about such links.