Eaton David J, Byrne John P, Cosgrove Vivian P, Thomas Simon J
1 National Radiotherapy Trials Quality Assurance Group (RTTQA), Mount Vernon Hospital , Northwood , UK.
2 Radiotherapy Special Interest Group, Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) , York , UK.
Br J Radiol. 2018 Apr;91(1084):20170863. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20170863. Epub 2018 Jan 18.
Radiotherapy is a safe treatment; nevertheless, national reporting of serious incidents allows investigation of potential harm to individuals and failing safety culture. UK guidance has previously been limited to overexposures, but underexposures will be included in the new legislation, and positioning errors have also been explicitly included in recent guidance. This commentary reviews current guidance and suggests practical approaches to the additional categories, including the definition of a local error margin.
