Hip fracture rehabilitation in physiotherapy practice

Setting the standards for high quality rehab after hip fracture to help transform lives and maximise independence

The standards for physiotherapy hip fracture rehabilitation were launched at Physiotherapy UK 2018 to positive delegate feedback.

In 2017, the CSP collaborated with the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on a sprint audit of hip fracture rehabilitation services in England and Wales. This was linked to the National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) and gave us a good insight into hip fracture rehabilitation around the country.

The standards

There are seven CSP standards for hip fracture physiotherapy rehabilitation.

  1. A physiotherapist assesses all patients on  the day of, or day following, hip fracture surgery 
  2. All patients are mobilised on the day of, or day following, hip fracture surgery. 
  3. All patients receive daily physiotherapy that  should total at least two hours in the first 7 days post-surgery
  4. All patients receive at least two hours of rehabilitation in subsequent weeks post-surgery until they have achieved their goals. 
  5. All patients moving from hospital to the next phase of rehabilitation are seen by their new rehabilitation provider within 72 hours. 
  6. A physiotherapist is part of every hip fracture programme’s monthly clinical governance meeting. 
  7. Physiotherapists share their assessment findings and rehabilitation plans with all rehabilitation providers to enable clear communication with the MDT.

How to use the standards

Use the short form of the standards to highlight to your health and social care colleagues what good hip fracture physiotherapy rehabilitation looks like, based on the findings of the Hip Sprint audit.

The resources listed will help you plan your transformation work

We've also created a long version of the standards document that includes indicators and evidence for the seven CSP standards.

Use these to look at how your service currently performs against the standards, and to identify areas in which you may need to undertake transformation work.

Remember to record your current levels of service before you change anything in order to gain some meaningful measure of improvement.