Orthogeriatric Services

An Orthogeriatric Service is a specialised care model that integrates the principles of geriatric medicine into the management of older adults with fragility fractures, particularly hip fractures. This service is designed to address the complex medical needs of elderly patients who often present with multiple comorbidities, frailty, and a high risk of future falls and fractures.

An Orthogeriatric Service is a specialised care model that integrates geriatric medicine into the treatment of older adults with fragility fractures, offering multidisciplinary care to address their complex medical needs and improve patient outcomes.

By employing a multidisciplinary approach, Orthogeriatric Services provide comprehensive care that includes the early involvement of geriatricians, tailored perioperative management, and coordinated rehabilitation, all aimed at improving outcomes such as pain management, reduced mortality, shorter hospital stays, and better functional recovery.

In New Zealand, Orthogeriatric Services play a crucial role in the care of hip fracture patients and actively participate in the Australian and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry (ANZHFR). This enables these services to benchmark their performance against the second edition of the Hip Fracture Care Clinical Care Standard.

The global Fragility Fracture Network (FFN) have developed a suite of Open Access resources including the Orthogeriatrics textbook and the FFN Clinical Toolkit.