The Infirmary Assessment Clinic was established at the Tuen Mun Hospital to assess the elderly registered on the central waiting list for the infirmary. The main purpose of the clinic was to look for appropriate candidates for infirmary placement and to deliver support to those who could remain in the community. A multidisciplinary approach was adopted for the assessment. Sixty-seven candidates were assessed and 51 were found to be qualified, i.e. 24% required a lower level of institutional care. With this rectification of the list, the clinic could save HK$5.8 million in one year if all assessed candidates were placed in the appropriate level of institutional care for 12 months. Seventy-five per cent of eligible candidates had mental disabilities and 55% had physical disabilities. All mental disabilities could be categorised as dementia requiring support in activities of daily living. A dividing score (Mini Mental State Examination <151,2 and Barthel Index <603,4) was arbitrarily defined as a guiding score for the assessment. Although this was found to be sensitive (84%), it was not specific (62%). The decision was multifactorial and individualised.