There is a special diagnostic procedure that us seasoned medical professionals use.

"Handbag medicine".

To the lay bystander it may seem that we are standing over the unconscious (or merely uncooperative) patient, rooting through their belongings, looking for something expensive to steal. For women this is normally a handbag, for men you will find us going through their wallet.

But! It is not true that we are seeking to boost our wages (meagre though they are), instead, dear reader, we are trying to help the patient.

If the patient is unconscious then we need to get as much information as possible, and one way of doing this is to go down their possessions.

The best thing that we can find is a card that is big, bright, hard to overlook with "I have epilepsy" written on the front (with the patient's name, date of birth and next of kin contacts written on the back).

The next best thing is often an address book/diary, it's especially helpful if the patient has filled in the front "personal details" bit.

At a pinch we can use our detective skills with envelopes (opened and unopened), credit cards, GP slips, prescription forms (often very helpful), immigration or asylum documents (popular in this area) and (also popular in this area) court summons.

So, an East Anglian Paramedic Bob Brotchie has come up with a rather good idea, given that people today, (myself included) seem wedded to our mobile phones.

ICE

Basically you put the details of the person you would like contacted In Case of Emergency into your phone under the name 'ICE'.

It's a good idea, and the drawbacks (the phone might be broken or separated from the patient) are the same drawbacks as anything that you would write on a piece of paper.

So, do it today!

True, if you are seriously injured enough, then we won't be rooting around your mobile phone (we'd be actually treating you), but it'd help the staff in the hospital when they get a quiet moment.

There have been hoax emails going around saying that if you put ICE into your phone then you get your phone credits drained away. This is absolutely a hoax.

This has been a public service announcement.