Today, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published National procedures for clinical audit of radiological procedures involving medical exposure to ionising radiation.

Since October 2022, through an amendment to the European Union (Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Dangers Arising from Medical Exposure to Ionising Radiation) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 256 of 2018), HIQA has responsibility for establishing national procedures for clinical audit of radiological procedures involving medical exposure to ionising radiation in Ireland.

In this context, clinical audit is an important tool for undertakings (service providers that offer medical exposures to ionsing radiation, such as X-rays) to support the review of medical radiological procedures against an agreed standard and to identify improvements where necessary.

John Tuffy, HIQA’s Head of Healthcare Regulation, said: “The goal of clinical audit is to ensure that healthcare and dental services that provide medical exposures are continually improving their service. Services that actively engage in clinical audit demonstrate a greater assurance to people using these services that quality improvement is at the forefront of service delivery.”

Agnella Craig, HIQA’s Regional Manager for Ionising Radiation, said: “These national procedures set out the principles and essential criteria that services must follow to ensure compliance with the requirements of the regulations”.

The national procedures document can be found on HIQA’s website at www.hiqa.ie.

An online information session on the national procedures and what it means for undertakings and staff is scheduled for Thursday 14 December from 2– 3pm. Further details on registering for this webinar are available here (the link is best accessed via the web browsers Chrome and Firefox).

Ends.

For further information please contact:

Marty Whelan, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement 085 805 5202 / mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to the editor:

• HIQA is the competent authority for patient protection in relation to medical exposure to ionising radiation in Ireland after the EU’s Council Basic Safety Standards (BSS) Directive of 2013 was transposed into Irish law in 2019. 
• S.I 528 of 2022 is the amendment which placed responsibility on HIQA to establish national procedures for clinical audit  of radiological procedures involving medical exposure to ionising radiation.
• Medical exposure to ionising radiation is when radiation is used as part of diagnosis such as an X-ray or CT scan, or the use of radiotherapy as part of cancer treatment at a hospital. It also includes radiation received for medical research purposes and radiation received by carers and comforters while attending to a patient. The regulations also include medical exposures used as part of a dental assessment, such as a dental X-ray.
• An undertaking is a person or body who has the legal responsibility for carrying out, or engaging others to carry out, a medical radiological practice, or the practical aspects of a medical radiological procedure, as defined by the regulations.
• HIQA has updated the following previously published documents to include information on how they will monitor compliance with the national procedures:
• A guide to the inspection of medical services providing medical exposure to ionising radiation
• A guide to the inspection of dental services providing medical exposure to ionising radiation
• Assessment-judgment framework for undertakings providing medical exposure to ionising radiation.

These documents can be found here.