Posted By Geoff Beckett For most of us we travel about without carrying details of an immediate emergency contact. Frequently we have a mobile phone and so pose the question as to whether iosh members should endorse the East Anglian Ambulance Service "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign (supported by Falklands war hero Simon Weston and in association with Vodafone's annual life savers award). The idea is you store the word "ICE" in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency". In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It's simple - everyone could do it, unless you use a PIN lock on your phone. Comments please.

Posted By Ron Hunter I suppose sooner or later I'm going to have to get one of these new-fangled mobile 'phones. This proposal will really confuse the 'boy racer' fraternity, who will previously have allocated this code to their favourite provider of these ridiculously over-powered hi-fi's they like to annoy everyone with (ICE = In-Car Entertainment)

Posted By Tyler I must admit that I am inlined to agree with this simple but effective idea. Perhaps once the general public embrace this idea and it becomes the standard routine with the emergency services, we can adress the comment concerning callous theives ringing these numbers as a 'joke'. Perhaps (thinking well down the line now) phone manufacturers can build in a special place in the phones memory for such "In case of emergency (ICE)" numbers that can only be accessed by the phone's owner and the emergency services by use of a password (known, of course, to all emergency services). In short, this idea should be promoted as a simple but effective idea.

Posted By peter gotch Reference Michael's comment, the sicko thief can already do this with most of our phones, either by dialing "Home" or similar, or randomly picking a few numbers. Let's see. Search Gr Graeme 07780 xxx356 Brrr "Hallo?" "Is that Graeme"? "Yes" "Your partner's been taken off to hospital" "But I don't have a partner" "Oh sorry wrong number" Hangs up. Try again. Search Mi Michael 07865 xxxYYY Brr........ So the sicko can already cause a nuisance. Problem [exacerbated in major emergency when people and their possessions separated] is that the Emergency Services can't ring at random, cos they are supposed to contact next of kin before anyone else. Therefore your mobile is not a lot of use to the Police etc, unless it has some hint as to who they should call. So I think the ICE scheme is good idea. Regards, Peter

Posted By Mark Talbot Simple. When your phone is stolen, call your own ICE number and say "Don't worry if some plonker calls saying I'm hurt". Not difficult to ask the caller to describe you after that... They should only have a few minutes before your phone company barrs calls from that phone anyway.

Posted By Lilian McCartney Another emergency system available for people at home is the green cross box (don't know actual name). You put a list of any medication/medical conditions and contact telephone numbers into this box and put it somewhere easily accessible by the emergency services (normally the fridge). You put the cross on the fridge door. You can also put the cross just inside your front door. This is useful particularly for people living alone or vulnerable people. It can also be useful for elderly e.g if one takes ill then the other simply hands over the box and this saves time especially if upset. You can get these at libraries, I expect some GP's may have them as well