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Early diagnosis in neck of femur fractures has been shown to improve outcome. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends if an occult hip fracture is suspected then an MRI should be performed and if not available within 24h a CT should be considered. At our centre, emergency MRI is rarely available and so CT is commonly used.

Our study aims to analyse the trends in CT use over a five year period for the diagnosis of neck of femur fractures.

Both the number of patients with a hip fracture and those undergoing a CT hip to diagnose an occult injury were identified across two district general hospitals between 2006–2007 and 2010–2011. The time from initial radiograph to CT and initial radiograph to operation were calculated.

In 2006–2007, of 547 hip fractures, 20 CT hips were performed and 6 reported as a fractured neck of femur (30%). In 2010 …