This paper describes the way in which one primary care team interpreted the evidence about screening and case finding in old age and introduced a simple system to test its feasibility. From the results of the study, which was conducted by members of the team without help from research workers, the team concluded that contact should be established with every person over the age of 75 every year but that it would continue to concentrate on managing problems known to it rather than searching for asymptomatic or unreported problems.