Introduction Little is known about the confidence and competence of community nurses in using information and communications technology. This survey set out to explore this issue. Method A questionnaire survey was sent out in the latter half of 2001 to all community nurses in a London community trust. The questionnaire also provided the opportunity for free-text comments. Results In total, 402 community nurses received questionnaires and 106 (26%) responded. Over half of the respondents felt they were not confident to use email and only just under half the Internet. Nearly a quarter lacked either the skills to use a keyboard or mouse. Less than 10% felt confident or very confident to use online sources of evidence. Conclusions Even taking into account the low response rate, a large proportion of community nurses lack the confidence and basic competencies to enable them to function effectively in a health service pledged to electronic operation by 2005.