Electronic prescribing and transfer/discharge summaries: a survey of UK cancer networks

need for electronic prescribing and documentation is cancer chemotherapy services. According to independent think tank Reform, much chemotherapy prescribing is paper-based and prone to error. One of the key recommendations on quality and safety from the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group relates to information technology. It states:“Electronic prescribing has been shown to promote patient safety by reducing errors. It also facilitates collection of standardised data. Those chemotherapy services that do not currently use electronic prescribing should strongly consider doing so.” In our view implementation of electronic processes in the field of oncology could provide useful information for other specialties. We have therefore surveyed cancer networks across the UK to establish whether systems were in place and operational for the use of electronic prescribing and electronic transfer/discharge summaries.We aimed to establish the position nationwide in oncology, to gain insight into other specialties with regard to the incorporation of electronic transfer/discharge letters and electronic prescribing into their clinical settings and to explore the benefits and difficulties that may have been experienced with the systems used. Our survey is a cancer-network facilitated review of the position of hospital-based elec-