The Swansea electronic referrals project

Abstract

A system was developed to allow general practitioners in Swansea to send urgent cancer referrals electronically to consultants at the South West Wales Cancer Centre. Five practices from the Swansea area took part in a pilot trial. Information was extracted from the system to evaluate the e-referral activity of the first six months, during which a total of 99 referrals were submitted electronically; most (81%) were processed within one hour. Evaluation interviews were conducted with staff at the general practices, who were asked to rate the system on a 10-point Likert scale (1 = completely dissatisfied to 10 = completely satisfied); the lowest satisfaction rating given by the practices was 8. The staff agreed that the use of a standard form was beneficial and improved the quality of the referral information submitted to consultants.