title: Clinical governance: risks and quality control in radiotherapy.
abstract: The professions involved in radiotherapy constantly strive to improve quality and to minimize errors and their effects. We are aware of our shortcomings but sometimes are powerless to take corrective action. We have seen that clinical governance requires some change in the medical culture but much has yet to be achieved in the standardization of medical processes. We would gain by sharing experiences of system failures, whether that be by reporting near misses or by disseminating details of litigation cases. In a specialty that depends on human processes and interactions, it is no surprise to find a measurable incidence of human errors. Sometimes this is also related to technological or design deficiencies and we rely too much on human interventions to overcome these. We would like to take positive steps to improve quality, such as those inherent in the new ISO9000 standards, but we are hindered by a variety of constraints--manpower, old technology, pressure to achieve high patient throughput. We need to make decisions for the future development of radiotherapy in the UK. We could settle for a system that is characterized by high throughput and high risk. Hopefully, we will receive the necessary encouragement and resources to strive for high standards of treatment and low risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physics and Bio-Engineering and Beatson Oncology Centre, Western Infirmary, Dumbarton Road, Glasgow G11 6NT, UK.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: McNee
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000592:standards*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D006113:United Kingdom