ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

Date: 28 September 2010

Announcement: Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service to be established at ARPANSA

Earlier this year, the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council accepted the Commonwealth’s offer to fund the establishment of the Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service to be located within the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. The new service will commence operation at the beginning of 2011.

Around 50,000 Australians require radiotherapy for cancer treatment every year. Australia has approximately 56 radiotherapy facilities at which these treatments are delivered, mostly by use of linear accelerators, of which there are nearly 150.

Radiation doses delivered to patients in Australia are checked by teams of medical physicists and radiation therapists employed in the radiotherapy clinics. The new Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service will provide these specialists with a source of independent checks for equipment and patient doses.

The result of the new service will mean that recipients of radiotherapy and their families can have even greater confidence that they are receiving the highest standard of treatment.

The Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service will also help to maintain the quality of radiotherapy in Australia, and provide a national approach to radiation measurements, making radiotherapy more consistent across the country and safer for patients.

Further background information is available here.

The Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service is a joint initiative between the Department of Health and Ageing and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

ENDS.

 

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