Political correctness (masking itself as data protection) has truly gone mad. Hearing that a friend was in hospital I drove from Edinburgh to see her. When I arrived I could not be told the ward she was on unless I gave her date of birth.

I knew the date but not the year, but that was unacceptable. I could even relate her address, phone number and names of children and husband, but that did not suffice. Short of touring every ward (and I tried a few) there was no way I could visit her.

How many lonely elderly folk go without visitors because of this ridiculous rule?

Lyn Anderson,

Thorpe Wood, Selby