Transient synovitis (TS) of the hip is a common cause of hip pain or gait abnormalities in young children (so-called “irritable hip”). Although TS can have a mild presentation, potentially devastating conditions such as septic arthritis (SA) need to be excluded. To improve our services, we performed a retrospective case-note analysis of children (<16 years old) who were presumptively diagnosed with TS between April 2003 and September 2007 at Darlington Memorial Hospital, Bishop Auckland General Hospital and the University Hospital of North Durham (three District General hospitals under the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust). Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of children with an acute limp …