Staff doses should now be down

Smaragda Progiou of Qados with medical physicist Dr Kathryn Carson and chief clinical technologist Paula Todd.

The PET service at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has been an integral service in the management and diagnosis of oncology patients throughout Northern Ireland for the past eight years.

The success of the service has been reflected in the ever-increasing referral rate, year after year. 

In 2007, it was realised that the rate of increase in referrals would mean that the capacity of the current service would be exceeded within 18 months.   As a result, a business case was put together to overcome the existing constraints on the service and increase the capacity. 

Head of radioisotopes at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Dr Christopher Marshall explains:  “The major constraints limiting scanning capacity were the number of scans that could be performed in a single day and the radiation dose received by scanning staff.

“As a result of this, we decided to tender for an automatic dispensing and administration system as we felt that such a system could significantly reduce the staff radiation dose from these tasks. 

“Following a detailed review of the marketplace and tender evaluation, we decided to purchase the Althea and Elfo systems, manufactured by Comecer and distributed by Qados in the UK and Ireland, on the basis of functionality and on-going revenue costs.”

See the full report on page 42 of the May 2010 issue of RAD Magazine.