Unintended overexposure of a patient during palliative radiotherapy treatment: investigation report

Report into the unintended overexposure of a palliative radiotherapy patient in Edinburgh Cancer Centre in December 2017.


1. The subject of this investigation.

Between 27 December 2017 and 4 January 2018 a patient undergoing a course of radiotherapy at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre (ECC) in Scotland received a dose of ionising radiation much greater than that intended. Since the incident resulted from a procedural error, rather than from equipment failure, it has been reported and investigated under the provisions of the extant Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 1059, The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposures) Regulations 2000 (as amended) [1] (referred to in this report as the IR(ME) Regulations).

The regulator for the IR(ME) Regulations (the 'appropriate authority') in Scotland is the Scottish Ministers.

Contact

Email: Richard Dimelow

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