In early 1992, I spent five weeks at the Costina Hospital in Romania – an exchange visit organised by the West Midlands Regional Health Authority at the request of a charity known as Faure Alderson Romanian Appeal, based in London. The team who set off with me in a lorry, minibus and a Land Rover, included a residential social worker, a medical student who helped me with the assessment of patients and four other volunteers from the charity to help in an orphanage. The journey across Europe was confronted with difficulties at Romanian customs but we eventually managed to meet the Director of the Hospital we were visiting, after a week on the road.

This Act, effective from 9 March 1992, contains amendments to the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984. It provides an extension to 28-day short term detention, requires sheriffs to hear applications for full detention within five days of their submission and authorises detention of patients until the outcome of such an application is known.

Electronic telecommunication (networking) is a complex, and growing field in computer technology. It allows the user to link up with a more powerful machine such as a mainframe, exchange information through a Bulletin Board Service (BBS), access a remote database (on-line service), or send electronic mail (E-mail). This basic guide explains the main concepts, and how to get started.