One in five elderly people with broken hips do not get surgery quickly enough, a survey shows.
Patients are meant to be operated on within 48 hours, but the annual audit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland showed many waited longer.
The survey of 36,000 patients also raised concerns about access to specialist care, the right drugs and support to prevent future falls.
However, compared to previous years it showed standards were improving.
There are about 76,000 cases every year, costing the NHS about £1.4bn to treat - a figure which is doubled when the associated social care costs are taken into account.
The audit was compiled from the National Hip Fracture Database, a voluntary reporting system which 90% of hospitals feed into.
It found that 80% of patients were given surgery within 48 hours - the recommended time-frame for treatment.
Read more at BBC Health.
Tags: Orthopaedics
