During the period 1975-1979, a project "Care of the elderly" was undertaken, with support from the King's Fund, by members of Devon's social services department, Exeter health care district and the Institute of Biometry and Community Medicine, University of Exeter. The overall purpose of the project was to promote the integrated care of the elderly in the community. The mechanism devised as a first step towards the achievement of this objective was the "Elderly at Risk Register" and this paper describes the setting up and use of the register and gives examples of the record cards used. A full account of the project can be found in the report "Care of the elderly in Devon" by Devon Social Services.