The CQC reports that there has been a 3% increase in the number of accidental and unintended exposures to ionising radiation in hospitals over the past year.
There has been a year-on-year increase in the annual number of patients accidentally exposed to ionising radiation as part of their medical care.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) enforces the regulatory framework to protect people against the dangers of being exposed to ionising radiation in a healthcare setting in England, and recently published its annual report with the figures.
Although these notifications represent a small proportion of the total examinations and treatment undertaken during the period, over the past year, there has been a 3% rise in the number of accidental exposures, which the CQC attributes to “a stronger patient safety culture” in medical exposure to ionising radiation. It also mentions a rising demand for services, as well as evolving medical radiological practice, technological advances and changes to working practices, which results in pressure on the clinical professional workforce, which can lead to errors and mistakes.
There were 842 notifications in total. Of those, 434 came from diagnostic imaging departments down from 447 the previous year; 291 came from radiotherapy departments, up from 244 the previous year; and 117 came from nuclear medicine departments, down from 128 the previous year.
Diagnostic radiology made up the largest proportion of total notifications (52%) because of the greater volume of diagnostic examinations performed compared with radiotherapy (35%) and nuclear medicine (14%).
