Tom, it's a phenomenon that usually occurs in the higher echelons of corporate management, one which I have identified and named: information by osmosis. The theory of IBO is that information is telepathically transferred by the information giver to the information receiver merely by standing next to them. In the corporate world, senior managers seem the believe that by passing their underlings in the corridor or on the way to the director's canteen. Information is transferred to their subordinates. Workers are then questioned later only to be met with blank stares at which manager goes apoplectic because you are supposed to know everything he knows. I'm sure this principle applies in the NHS and LAS.