With increasing life expectancy and technological advancement, provision of anaesthesia for elderly patients has become a significant part of the overall case-load. These patients are unique, not only because they are older with more propensity for comorbidity but a decline in physiological reserve and cognitive function invariably accompanies ageing; this can substantially impact peri-operative outcome and quality of recovery. Furthermore, it is not only morbidity and mortality that matters; quality of life is also especially relevant in this vulnerable population. Comprehensive geriatric assessment is a patient-centred and multidisciplinary approach to peri-operative care. The assessment of frailty has a central role in the pre-operative evaluation of the elderly. Other essential domains include optimisation of nutritional status, assessment of baseline cognitive function and proper approach to patient counselling and the decision-making process. Anaesthetists should be proactive in multidisciplinary care to achieve better outcomes; they are integral to the process. Twitter: @mgirwin advanced age [2]. Although chronological age itself predicts surgical outcome poorly, age-related decline in physiological reserve and functional capacity are inevitable, and affect all organ systems. When people live longer, more comorbidities appear; this will result in higher rates of peri-operative morbidity and mortality. This is already imposing a significant burden on healthcare systems, by increasing both the utilisation of intensive care facilities and length of hospital stay [3,4]. Therefore, it is imperative to deliver both high-quality and efficient peri-operative care for elderly patients.The 'elderly' represent a unique group of patients, with many challenges for the peri-operative care team. In this article, we review the following aspects of anaesthesia in the elderly: (1) the role of comprehensive geriatric assessment and innovative models of care; (2) the implications of frailty and its assessment; (3) the assessment and optimisation of nutritional status; (4) the assessment of neurocognitive dysfunction; and (5) patient counselling and approach to decision-making. 80