I can see both sides of this argument. I worked for many years in a very busy A&E Department where protecting data was of prime importance and no information was given to anyone, including the police, in order to protect patients. Prime examples were violent partners enquiring about the whereabouts of a patient and being asked by police for details of anyone admitted with lacerations (possible breaking and entering) to telling us they had permission to look at our records (presumably to find a suspect). Information could be obtained about patients only by application to the Medical Records Officer which seems entirely reasonable to me. There seems to be, on the other hand, little point in refusing details of names, phone numbers and addresses since these are mostly in the public view for anyone to find if they care to search long and hard enough. So lets be reasonable about this and don't answer enquiries or reveal details that you are not happy to give or would not wish others to reveal about yourself. My only other word on this is that we have a good informative and very willing list here and yet every time Mr Stockdill decides to respond, do we end up with animosity and ill feeling - shame! Nina Terry _________________________________________________________________ View your Twitter and Flickr updates from one place – Learn more! http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/137984870/direct/01/