The X-ray department and psychiatry.

All X-rays requested by psychiatrists in-training during 1982 and performed by the Department of Radiology of a large mental hospital were analysed. Forty-five per cent of all requests were marked routine, and the majority of these were for chest X-rays; only 4% of these revealed significant abnormality and no patient under the age of 55 had a significant abnormality on routine chest X-ray. All routine skull X-rays were normal. One-third of the long-stay hospital population accounted for one-quarter of the overall workload of the department. It is recommended that: requests for routine skull X-rays be abandoned, and that routine chest X-rays for patients below the age of 55 be restricted to high-risk groups such as immigrants, those on steroids, etc. The financial implications of such a policy are discussed.