Hi Tim,
It will be interesting to know the percentage of patients that do not get hip fracture repair within 24 hours. I don't think anybody has published that. I imagine it varies at different hospitals. The drivers for the delay can be different, the most valid is optimization of the patient, but this is not necessarily the main reason for the delay. Delays can happen because of lack of surgeon, anesthesia or nursing staff availability and lack of hospital resources especially during the weekends (putting other OR cases as a priority). There are recommendations supporting <24 h repair but there are not strict rules at least in the US. Most experts agreed that surgery should be done early rather than late given the increased morbidity and mortality related to delays.