PATIENT DOSE PROTOCOLS AND TRENDS IN THE UK

NRPB has been conducting national patient dose surveys in the UK over the past decade and has published advice and recommendations on patien t dose reduction in collaboration with appropriate professional and re gulatory bodies. To support these recommendations, a national protocol for patient dose measurements in diagnostic radiology was published i n 1992 describing suitable dose measurement techniques and providing n ational reference doses for common types of X ray examination. It also asks medical physicists to send the results of local measurements to NRPB so that a national database can be established. The methods for p atient dose measurement and for setting national reference dose levels recommended in the UK protocol are briefly described. Data collected up to August 1993 in the national database are reviewed. Trends in pat ient doses over the last decade in the UK are assessed to provide a me asure of the impact of the initiatives for optimisation, quality assur ance and patient dose reduction that have been applied to diagnostic r adiology during this period. Comparisons are made with similar data fr om the USA.