Case finding in the elderly: does the primary care team already know enough?

The needs of an elderly population in one general practice were assessed by the primary health care team. A simple questionnaire was filled in as far as possible by members of the team on known social and functional criteria for each patient aged over 75. The questionnaire was complete for 100 of 118 elderly patients. The information was accurate for over 95% of the criteria as verified by information held by the health authority. This information will now be used for yearly reviews of each patient based on opportunistic contacts. This is a simple method of collating information that is already known. If such information was available to health authorities it would give them an idea of the type and extent of the support services needed for elderly people.