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From 25 May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (1) will come into force and will have a direct effect in every EU country.

Mrs F, a 30-year-old housewife, visited her GP, Dr O, with a four-week history of diarrhoea. Dr O arranged a stool sample for microscopy and culture (which was negative) and prescribed codeine. Four months later, Mrs F was still having diarrhoea, especially after meals, and she had started to notice some weight loss. She returned to the surgery and this time saw Dr P, who examined her and found nothing remarkable, but decided to refer her to gastroenterology in view of her persistent symptoms.

Mr E, a 50-year-old accountant, was playing squash with a colleague after work and hurt his left ankle. He couldn’t keep playing but he was able to walk, so he went home. The next day his ankle became quite swollen, so Mr E kept it on ice and took some ibuprofen...

Mr X, a 25-year-old fit and active man, was reviewed by his GP, Dr A, with a recurrence of lower back pain. He had noticed lumbar back pain intermittently throughout his 20s, but played a lot of sports to which he attributed his symptoms.