A study of waiting time for surgery in elderly patients with hip fracture and subsequent in-patient hospital stay

To establish whether increased waiting time to operation in elderly patients with hip fracture significantly affects postoperative time to discharge. Combined prospective and retrospective analysis of theatre logbooks and in-patient data to determine the type, time and date of operation and subsequent in-patient stay. A busy district general hospital in the South East Thames Valley area with changing availability of a dedicated trauma list. 441 elderly patients undergoing hip surgery between May 1995 and March 1997. Waiting time from booking of operation to surgery and length of postoperative hospital stay. Increased pre-operative wait for emergency hip surgery in elderly patients significantly increases postoperative stay. Roughly doubling pre-operative wait increases postoperative stay by 19% (P < 0.01).