hospital news at issue, news that affected a powerful group within the BMA and the NHS. Members of the CC, the CEC and the Council of the BMA participated in the Joint Conference, organized largely by John Pringle, head of the BMA\'s press office and chaired by Sir Guy Dain of the PRC.[20](#fn20){ref-type="fn"} Sir Linton Andrews, editor of the *Yorkshire Post* and chair of the new Press Council led the assembled representatives of the press: National Union of Journalists, Institute of Journalists, Press Association, Newspaper Society, Guild of British Newspaper Editors, Periodical Proprietors\' Association, and Newspaper Proprietors\' Association. The Ministry of Health was represented by their press officer, Stephen Heald, although his position was that of an observer. BBC Radio and BBC Television Talks were also represented, butthe face of press interest similar to that attracted by Aird at Hammersmith. The Brook Hospital received an estimated 300 telephone calls on the day the children were believed to be there, and by midday some thirty reporters were at the gates.[38](#fn38){ref-type="fn"} Confidentiality was demanded and expected by the Keighley family, and it was the inability to keep this secret that prompted Aird\'s named interview in the press, and was a key issue in the Joint Conference. In effect, Aird sacrificed his professional anonymity (the named interview) in defence of patient confidentiality. This tactic demonstrates the nature of the relation between anonymity and confidentiality in the context of the 1950s. Following David Vincent\'s study of secrecy as "blocked communication", anonymity and confidentiality can be seen as performing the