Anaesthesia datasets

Sir,—While I agree with the need for a minimum dataset for anaesthetic logbooks, particularly in light of the forthcoming changes in training, I am a little perturbed by the inclusion of names and dates of birth of patients. Drs Lack, Stuart-Taylor and Tecklenburg [1] describe a minimum dataset for anaesthetic logbooks. In the data fields described, the name and the date of birth of patients are included. No distinction was made as to whether the ("electronic ") logbooks were to be held on "home" computers or on "hospital" machines. According to the Data Protection Act of 1984 [2], records of the type described about living, identifiable individuals, place obligations on those who record and use personal data. The users must be open about this use through the Data Protection Register. The Act does not cover information that is held and processed manually (ordinary paper files), and there are other exemptions, but many data users may find that as they cannot rely safely on the exemptions, they will need to register under the Act. While departmental logbooks would be covered by registration of the hospital, individual logbooks on personal computers would not. A. TWIST Department of Anaesthesia Royal Victoria Infirmary Newcastle upon Tyne