[Doctors focus on the needs of the elderly].

The Dutch National Care for the Elderly Programme started in 2008. Eight regional networks were formed, in which more than 75 projects were carried out to improve care and wellbeing for frail elderly persons. The programme will come to an end in 2017. The results and lessons learned are being spread via the knowledge platform 'BeterOud'. In this article we describe some lessons from the programme for clinicians. The programme shows the value and the difficulties of clinicians taking the needs and wishes of frail elderly persons as the guiding principle of their care. Most frail elderly persons cannot be treated through generic interventions but need multidisciplinary and personalised care and support. In addition, standard research methods and outcome measures often do not coincide with the perceptions of elderly persons. This might explain the limited results of many projects in terms of cost-effectiveness. Benefits from the perspective of both professionals and elderly persons should be established in advance.