Eighty-seven elderly patients with subcapital hip fractures treated by Bateman bipolar hip hemiarthroplasty were reviewed using Harris hip scores at a minimum of 24 months after their index operation. The complication rate was comparable to other reported series. The degree of pain was lower than a comparable unipolar arthroplasty series. Neither the relationship of the stem to the canal nor the presence of bone graft in the stem fenestration had any correlation to the patients' function. Femoral cups too large for the acetabulum predictably required another operation, but normal or small cup relationships had no prognostic correlation.