IR(ME)R annual report 2021 to 2022

• From 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, we received 611 statutory notifications of significant accidental and unintended exposures (SAUE notifications) across all modalities. This compares with 499 received in 2020/21, an increase of 22%.
• The largest proportion of notifications came from diagnostic imaging (60%).

Figure 1: Notifications received by modality, 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022

611 Notifications received

Source: CQC notifications data 2021/22

Activity data in England

NHS England collects information about tests carried out on NHS patients in England in the Diagnostic Imaging Dataset. Data for 2021/22 shows that between April 2021 and March 2022, NHS services in England carried out 43.8 million imaging tests across all modalities. Of these examinations, 29.9 million used ionising radiation (including plain film X-rays, CT, fluoroscopy, nuclear medicine, PET-CT and SPECT, as opposed to other types of test such as ultrasound, MRI scans or medical photography).

The Radiotherapy Dataset (RTDS) is managed by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS). It collects, curates and analyses data on all radiotherapy activity delivered in NHS hospitals in England. In 2021/22, there were over 134,000 episodes of radiotherapy treatment in England, an increase of 8% on the previous year. This is likely due to the ongoing recovery of services following the COVID-19 pandemic. Note: the completeness of radiotherapy activity data varies by trust and trusts may submit historical data at a later date. Therefore, it is possible that some data may still be missing and that there may be changes to overall figures as the RTDS is updated over time.