Table 2.

 Results of the questions about telepathology and video conferencing

Question	Answer categories	Response selected (N)	% Of respondents
How much experience do you have in telepathology?	None	71	30%
	Demonstration at trade shows	91	38%
	Demonstration in own laboratory	70	30%
	Email attachment of digital images	85	36%
	Use of full telepathology workstation in other laboratory	13	5%
	Use of full telepathology workstation in own laboratory	17	7%
How often do you use telepathology in your diagnostic work?	Never	179	76%
	Once a year	21	9%
	Once a month	26	11%
	Once a week	10	4%
	Once a day	0	0%
If you had a telepathology facility in your laboratory, what use would you make of it?	None	36	16%
	Referral of cases for expert opinion	128	55%
	Receipt of cases for expert opinion	74	32%
	Referral of cases from cancer unit to cancer centre	74	32%
	Receipt of cases from cancer unit to cancer centre	54	23%
	Remote attendance at multidisciplinary team meeting	140	60%
	Central broadcast of joint multidisciplinary team meetings	68	29%
	Remote attendance at postgraduate education/EQA meetings	103	44%
	Central broadcast of postgraduate education/EQA meetings	50	22%
	Remote reporting of routine cases at another hospital in the same trust	26	11%
	Remote reporting of cases at any hospital	22	9%
Based on your current knowledge of telepathology, indicate any of the following possible disadvantages of telepathology that you feel are important?	Image quality is not sufficiently high to make a secure diagnosis	132	57%
	Cost of equipment is too high to justify purchase	71	31%
	Telepathology takes too long compared with slide and paper referral	91	39%
	Cost of electronic transmission is too high (e.g. ISDN line costs)	29	13%
	Medicolegal implications of duty of care	134	58%
What is your prediction of the use of telepathology in 5 years time?	None, it will have been shown to be a white elephant	6	3%
	Low usage in special situations	70	30%
	High usage by enthusiasts, low usage everywhere else	142	60%
	High usage by all histopathologists in an integrated national network	17	7%
If you had a video conferencing facility in your laboratory, what use would you make of it?	None	41	18%
	Remote attendance at multidisciplinary team meetings	157	69%
	Central broadcast of multidisciplinary team meetings	70	31%
	Remote attendance at postgraduate education/EQA scheme meetings	107	47%
	Central broadcast of postgraduate education/EQA scheme meetings	49	21%

EQA, external quality assurance.