A total of 1074 patients, the survivors of a multicentre sample of 1085 who, 9–15 months earlier, had undergone total hip replacement, were asked to complete a questionnaire about their satisfaction with the outcome of surgery. Of 1027 (96%) who responded, 90% were satisfied, 5% were unsure and 3% were dissatisfied with the result—2% failed to answer the question about satisfaction. The highest satisfaction rate was found amongst patients who had undergone bilateral hip replacement (96%) and those with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (94%). Dissatisfaction was associated with previous surgery to the index hip and additional surgery following total hip replacement. In all but five of the 98 patients who did not express satisfaction an adequate reason could be found either in the case notes or from questionnaire responses.