Mononuclear phagocytes.

address, remain with the same general practitioners,3 but do not notify them of the change.Problems also arise with practices that fail to update their records or fail to notify the family practitioner committee of changes.One study found that family practitioner committees are notified in only about a quarter of casesi' Computerisation of family practitioner committee records highlights rather than solves these problems.8Between three quarters and nine tenths of people consult their general practitioners in a year.Consultation rates are higher among women and elderly people-the target populations for current screening programmes and case finding.9If receptionists routinely checked patients' addresses as they consulted the practice and immediately notified changes to the family practitioner committee then addresses could be updated for most patients at little cost.Given the capitation fee system on which general practice is based the potential savings to the Treasury from regularly updated lists of patients would be substantial.If these savings were released to family practitioner committees they might be used to employ clerical staff specifically to check addresses and death returns at regular intervals.The breast screening programme, like the cervical screening programme before it, will fail unless this problem is solved.