In June 1978, a small multi-disciplinary group consisting of two doctors, a nurse and a social worker spent a week in Denmark studying the Danish approach to care of the elderly. The conference was held to examine the Danish experience of long-term care for the elderly. Discussion focussed on what medical and social services are offered, what position in society is accorded to old people, how responsibility for their care is shared between the family and the state, and what support an elderly person may expect as his right once he is unable to support himself.