Service delivery (radiation protection)

Our areas of work are:​

Ionising radiation protection​

Our radiation protection advisor (RPA) and team co-ordinate the monitoring of occupational radiation doses to over 900 staff in more than 60 areas using radiation across the organisation and clients. Everyone working with ionising radiation must have training in radiation safety, and we provide most of this. The RPA is also responsible for advising on the design of new facilities, the use of personal protective equipment in radiation controlled areas and making sure that all radiation use is properly risk assessed and controlled. Our RPA and team carry out an annual programme of audits on radiation use across UHS and beyond.​

Non-ionising radiation​

Our laser protection advisor leads the audit of non-ionising radiation safety across theatres, the eye department and other areas. Our group also works with dermatology to carry out regular quality control checks on UV treatment devices. Our laser protection advisor also advises on new laser facilities, personal protective equipment, risk assessments and procurement of new lasers.

Radioactive waste​

We're responsible for safely dealing with radioactive waste generated by the hospital. Radioactive materials are used in nuclear medicine, interventional radiology and oncology, for diagnosis or therapy of patients. Our radiation waste advisor advises the Trust on minimising the impact on the environment, and we regularly meet with regulators to check our compliance in this area.​

Radiology equipment​

We work closely with radiology departments at UHS and client sites to keep their x-ray equipment as safe as possible. In total we support about 350 x-ray systems. At UHS, we also work with the Siemens managed equipment service and IISS programme when new equipment is required. We run the quality assurance (QA) testing programme for radiology x-ray and CT equipment, which includes working with radiographers and radiologists on optimisation projects.