Eight percent of the elderly patients discharged from a geriatric unit in one year were readmitted within three months. Forty‐six percent had been living alone and nearly all of these had received full community support at the time of discharge. Recurrent problems were the reason for readmission in 59% of cases, mainly due to falls, incontinence, and confusion. Only 54% of the readmitted patients were discharged home again—those with new additional problems tended to die in hospital, whereas those with recurrent problems often required institutional long‐term care. It is concluded that even with careful discharge planning, a proportion of patients will require readmission, some of which will also require long‐term institutional care. This number is quite small in terms of the total number of patients discharged from a geriatric unit and should not be a reason for seeking nursing home care at an earl