The main factors that cause surgical delay after a hip fracture are: 1) the patient presents with comorbidities and surgery is deferred for preoperative diagnostics, risk stratification, and medical optimization ("medical clearance") and 2) surgical operating room and staff resources are not available because hip fractures have low priority in urgent surgery lists ("queuing"). Both medical clearance and queuing are modifiable issues - addressing these obstacles has the potential to substantially reduce surgical wait times.