Assessment of older people in the community: lessons from Britain’s ‘75-and-over checks’

Abstract

Research carried out in the 1950s and early 1960s indicated that there was considerable unmet need amongst older people in Britain. This work prompted research into ways of meeting the health care needs of older people, a task made more important by the aging of the population at the end of this century. This focus resulted in the introduction in 1990 of a nationwide health assessment programme for older people, as a contractual obligation for general practitioners. The programme, the first in the world, remains in force but is widely ignored. This paper describes: