I have to give a presentation to a group of nurses next week and they have specifically asked for an explanation of the Belbin technique. Can you tell me what it is?

Teacher, Wakefield.

Belbin is a person, not a thing! He's a very clever organisational theory specialist who invented committees. What he says is that on every committee you need to have different sorts of people (Huh - millions in the bank for that! ). These people all have names like 'completer - finisher', 'resource allocator' and so on. You may be interested to know that I have developed an extension of Mr Benbow's work specifically for the NHS. This book, The Rough Guide to Organisations and the NHS, is available from HSJ University Press, a snip at£475.

However, as a taster for you I have identified the four key types you need on an NHS committee. First there is the 'territory organisation and administration director' (TOAD), next is the 'financial operations overview liaiser', the 'basic elemental requirements knowledge-manager' and last but not least the 'general information technologist'. If you have these four you will not go far wrong! Let me know how it goes (try to sell the book to your nurses; 5 per cent to you for each sale).

Help! You are our last hope. You will have seen the recent storm in the media about the 'bodies in the chapel' affair. We have a similar problem, only in our case we have cupboards full of skeletons. What should we do ?

Path Tech, Barnet.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Well, first things first. For God's sake do not tell anyone. Second, make sure you do tell Mr Milburn. This is for two reasons: first, because he likes shouting down the phone, and second, because then he can work out a way to ensure your chief executive steps down. This usually solves all problems.

Make sure you have a policy for disposing of old skeletons. Policies are the key to all problems, and that was the main problem at Bedford Hospital.

It was a scandal that they had never thought to develop a policy on 'greasing the mortuary door hinges' and their procedure for 'coping with an impossible number of bodies on a frosty Wednesday with an R in the month' was, unfortunately, also absent.

Break a leg.