ionising radiation – HIQA News

Consultation underway on draft guidelines for the justification of medical radiological procedures

Our public consultation on draft guidelines for the justification of medical radiological procedures on asymptomatic individuals is open until 5pm on Wednesday, 18 December 2024.

These guidelines, when finalised, will apply to any person or organisation conducting medical radiological procedures, including individual professionals involved in providing medical radiological procedures in dental and medical settings.

New study into average radiation doses received by public

Alongside our colleagues in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we have published a new report assessing the radiation exposure received from medical exposures, our diet and environmental exposures.

The Ionising Radiation – National Dose Report assessed the average radiation doses received by the Irish population.

The assessment, carried out jointly by HIQA and the EPA, found the average dose remains similar to that found a decade ago in a 2014 report.

Representing HIQA on European working groups

We continue to provide input on several important working groups in the area of medical exposure to ionising radiation. In January, we took part in the second meeting of the European Commission’s SAMIRA working group on Diagnostic Reference Levels. The SAMIRA action plan is the EU’s first comprehensive plan for action to support a safe, high quality and reliable use of radiological and nuclear technology in healthcare.

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New national clinical audit procedures and diagnostic reference levels for medical exposure to ionising radiation published

In our role as the competent authority for regulating medical exposures to ionising radiation, we set clinical audit procedures and establish and review national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for medical procedures which use ionising radiation.

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HIQA extends its patient safety role in the area of medical exposure to ionising radiation

Last month, we commenced accepting applications for the generic justification of new practices involving medical exposure to ionising radiation.

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Importance of notifying accidental and unintended exposure to ionising radiation events to HIQA highlighted

Last month, we published our third annual overview report of lessons learned from receipt of statutory notifications of accidental and unintended exposures to ionising radiation.

Increased reporting of radiation incidents will lead to learning in the sector

The notifications of radiation exposure incidents we received in 2020 will help drive improvements across healthcare.

Longstanding problems hindering COVID-19 response in Irish hospitals

Sean Egan, Director of Healthcare Regulation

Earlier this week, we published an overview of our monitoring and inspections in Irish healthcare services. We found that while the hospital system adapted quickly to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, longstanding issues with poor physical infrastructure, capacity and workforce challenges, often hindered these efforts.

Throughout 2020, we focused our resources on known areas of risk in public acute hospitals and rehabilitation and community inpatient services.

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Patient safety enhanced by reduced exposure to radiation levels

Our recent report on national diagnostic reference levels in Ireland found that the radiation levels patients are exposed to has reduced between 2-27% over the past 10 years.

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Update on the regulation of medical exposures to ionising radiation

We continue to progress the regulation of medical exposures to ionising radiation, and have recently commenced inspecting dental practitioners. We also carried out a survey of radiation doses in X-ray services in Ireland.