With a subject as vast as preoperative care its is impossible in an article of this length to do more than sketch in the broad outlines of assessment and preparation, using a few examples to illustrate certain aspects. Unfortunately the pressure of work in most hospitals is such that the standard of preoperative care is not as high as it might be. Many authors have stressed its values not only in making anaesthesia safer but especially in reducing the incidence of postoperative morbidity--a field that has received too little attention for too long.