On 07/11/2015 22:16, family-historian-users@rootsweb.com wrote: > Dear all, > Between 1987 and 1990 I spent a lot of time working with, what was by then > called, the NHS Register. The discussion about computerising patient > records had begun and I spent some time explaining the need for a unique > identifier and pointing out that the current NHS Numbers would not work. (I > will not give you're the technical details!). That's an interesting insight, and thank you! I was a wartime baby, and was taught my National Identity Number to recite if asked by anyone official. It was 4 letters plus 3 digits. For a while after the war, my NHS number was that NI number, which appeared on everything medical including spectacle prescriptions. I'm not sure quite when it ceased to be so. Now, I have at least five numbers for the NHS to find me: two on my NHS ID card - one UK + 8 digits, one like a very long credit card number; a separate one from the local hospital (3 letters plus 7 digits); two more for my GP surgery - one 3 + 3 + 4 digits, the other my name plus date of birth as one long word. No doubt it all works somehow. I looked at the 1939 Register: my parents are there but not the rest of the family. I didn't spend long looking for them, and didn't pay good money to see what detail there is. No doubt it will become free to view under one or another subscription, like the 1911 census ;) Keith