Radionuclide radiologist directed nuclear medicine services in district general hospitals in the South Thames Region

The equipment, staffing levels and imaging workload of all 14 radiologist d irected nuclear medicine services in district general hospitals in the Sout h Thames Region are presented. These are generally single camera department s providing a broad range of imaging procedures, including cardiac studies and white cell labelling, as well as the more usual renal, lung, thyroid an d bone examinations. All departments have a high throughput, averaging 2358 examinations per year. Departmental staffing levels are variable, with som e institutions having inadequate consultant radiology sessions free of othe r commitments as well as inadequate physics support. Potentially, these are important quality and legal issues that departments may need to address wi th hospital Trusts and Commissioning Agencies. Four small departments provi ded a service without any formally contracted radiologist sessions for nucl ear medicine in the radiologists' job plans. The three medium sized departm ents have a closer match between sessions contracted and those actually wor ked, but in only one of these did the contracted sessional commitment equal the recommendation of the Nuclear Medicine Committee of the Royal College of Physicians. There is a disparity between the number of contracted consul tant sessions and those actually worked in most institutions (86%), being a t least two sessions in eight hospitals. Recommendations are made regarding the adequacy of some of the elements of provision in South Thames and the legal and safety implications for hospital Trust management and Commissioni ng Agencies.