Preventing Patient Identification Incidents in Diagnostic Imaging, Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy

Patient identification incidents (errors and near misses) are uncommon in diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy in the United Kingdom. Yet they continue to be an ongoing source of notifiable incidents for the UK regulators of The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017, The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018 and The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, hereafter referred to collectively as IR(ME)R.

This guidance considers how to approach patient safety differently to prevent these incidents.