Orthopaedic surgeons and geriatricians “must collaborate” to improve hip fracture care

A major audit of hip fracture surgery and follow-up care published by the Royal College of Physicians shows that not all patients receive properly planned rehabilitation from a multidisciplinary team.1

Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that patients are treated as part of a “hip fracture programme” with collaboration between orthopaedic surgeons and geriatricians.2

The Royal College of Physicians’ 2016 audit report looked at data on the care received by 64 864 people with hip fractures at 177 hospitals in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland during 2015.1 The data were derived from the National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD), …