Patients with hip fracture should undergo surgery the same day or the day after hospital admission and undergo a coordinated programme to prevent long term disability and complications, recommends guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Current outcomes for the 70 000 to 75 000 people each year in the United Kingdom who have a hip fracture are poor, with about 10% of people dying within one month and one third dying within 12 months of the fracture. Most of these deaths are not caused by the hip fracture itself but by pre-existing illness, so the new guideline proposes measures to diagnose …