On the records
Your article Doctoring Sicknotes (Online May 17) highlights one of the many dilemmas faced by GPs in the NHS today. The issue of confidentiality needs to be addressed, and it goes beyond the scope of your article.

Many practices, like mine, keep all consultations on computer. Clause 65 of the Health Social Care Act allows the health secretary to have access to information that patients believe is highly confidential. I can no longer promise that my patient's secret really is secret.

We are going to have to decide whether to take a (retrograde?) step, and keep highly sensitive information in paper format only, just to keep it out of the clutches of bureaucrats. I personally would not release any information about a patient without the strongest protest, and without informing the patient that this was about to happen.

We have other worries - DNA tests, for example. Some insurance companies already demand access. I can only advise my patients to be cautious before agreeing to one, and to take out all the insurance cover they will ever need prior to having the test.

Despite rules protecting privacy, I foresee a situation where political masters will expect the local hospital and out-of-hours to have access to confidential data. This would mean hospital managers would be able to see the records of their employees, since once information is outside our surgery, it is effectively in the public domain.

There has been no open debate about this.
Dr Paul D. Oldfield
oldfieldmajor@aol.com

Slow text
Having read all about the increase in text messaging in Britain I should have seen it coming. Text messages I have sent to people, and that have been sent to me, have at times slowed to a crawl - taking up to two days in some cases.

But will the mobile companies upgrade their networks? The response of my network was to say that text messages "can take up to 72 hours" to reach the recipient. Great! So things have to get 50% worse again before anything changes! Is anyone else suffering SMS slowdown?
Joe Hall
joe.hall@philosopher.co.uk

Ease of use
I am writing in response to Victor Keegan's article (May 17) about GPRS/Wap phones. In asking the question "GPRS phones - good or bad?" one has to make the distinction between the data transfer technology that is GPRS and the hardware/software configuration by which we use it. The main problem with Wap and GPRS on a phone is not the data transfer, but creating a user interface that can utilise the available data.

The problem is not GPRS but the phone's operating system. I assume connecting a GPRS phone to a Visor/ Palm/PC will make for fast downloading and viewing of email and the web. And this use of mobile phones is the best way to utilise their speed because then you can attach them to a decent interface.

The consumer has been led to believe that the phone's speed is the central concern of functionality, but it is not. It is the good ol' GUI again. Wait until phones have colour PDA screens and decent software and then we will have the functionality we want in a single device.
Thomas Sharpe
tom@easygreens.demon.co.uk

What benefit?
The reference to the Klondyke in the article "Genetic codes on a smart card" (Science May 17) seems most appropriate.

The discovery of gold spawned a region of gangsters, thieves, murderers, disorder and mayhem. Some gold was found and a few non miners made money.

But where is this Klondyke now, and what did it contribute to the happiness and well-being of humankind?
Ron Press
ronald@press2000.freeserve.co.uk