Currently around one in five patients who suffer a broken hip are not operated on within 48 hours of hospital admission despite research showing that the longer the surgery is left the worse their outcomes.
However in some hospitals around half of patients wait longer than 48-hours for surgery even though evidence shows it doubles the risk of major complications and death.
New draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has said all patients should be operated on sooner.
If the patient is too unwell for surgery then their other illnesses must be treated promptly so the operation is not delayed, the guidance said.
There are around 75,000 hip fractures each year in Britain, mostly affecting the elderly.
It is thought to cost the NHS and social care around £2bn a year to treat the breaks and rehabilitate patients.
Around one in three patients who suffer a broken hip will die within the next year, half of which are unrelated to the fracture, which experts say is a reflection of how frail and ill people are when they suffer the fracture.
Dr Fergus Macbeth, Clinical Practice Centre Director at Nice, said: “Hip fracture is a major health problem which can have a devastating impact on people who suffer one, as well as requiring a carefully coordinated approach from a range of health disciplines including care after leaving hospital.
"Evidence indicates that there is considerable variation in clinical practice, which can affect the quality of care that hip fracture patients of all ages receive. For example, prompt surgery has been generally recognised as important, but it’s sometimes delayed for administrative or clinical reasons."
An audit of the National Hip Fracture Database released by the Royal College of Surgeons in September found that 20 per cent of patients are not operated on within 48-hours of hospital admission, however this ranged from around 50 per cent to over 95 per cent in different hospitals.
The draft guidance is open for consultation until January 12th at http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG/Wave18/51