Successful treatment of a patient with a hip fracture requires thorough preoperative assessment and resuscitation, and timely surgery. A multidisciplinary approach is worthwhile with early involvement of an orthogeriatric team and preoperative anesthetic assessment where possible. The fundamentals of assessment of these patients are the fundamentals of medical assessment of all patients ie history, examination and investigation. While younger patients with femoral neck fractures warrant early surgery to prevent avascular necrosis (AVN), older patients with per trochanteric fractures need to be expedited to prevent complications of recumbency.