Causes of delay on a hip fracture pathway-a retrospective single-centre analysis.

Background: This study highlights the multiple sources of delay along a hip fracture clinical pathway. The national recommendation is that 'patients with a hip fracture should be admitted within 4 hours of arrival at the Emergency Department to which they first presented'.

Methods: Granular analysis and process mapping of all available hospital and 'Irish Hip Fracture Database' data for a 2-month period were used to highlight and compare causes of delay.