A national education programme in 1997 which coincided with the launch in the UK of the cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine had only limited success in recruiting GPs [3] but there was evidence from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in 2000–2002 that practice-based educational interventions might improve the recognition of dementia and responses to it [4], albeit from a low baseline. This evidence concerns the gene BCHE and dementia.