Some Good News around Dental Radiology/Radiography for Dental Practices in Scotland

The Ionising Regulations (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) warranted officer/inspector to the Scottish Parliament and his team (who are hosted by Healthcare Improvement Scotland) are releasing a set of new endorsed Radiation Protection File, Employers Procedures (EPs) templates specifically intended for usage in General Dental Practices.

These documents are a result of a collaboration between the Regulator and several stakeholder groups including, the Scottish Radiation Protection Advisors Group and National Services Scotland, and the Chief Dental Officers team. These new templates are written addressing the specific nature and challenges that are commonly found in General Dental Practices environment rather than a Hospital Imaging Service Department. Dental radiographs continue to be the most taken radiographs in the delivery of healthcare and these templates will help dental practices to comply and apply the regulations in a more tailored and proportionate way.

Some of the highlights of the changes within these documents are around the provision of a “pregnancy poster” template, and narrative around “holding” and patient identification protocols.

To facilitate the replacement /renewal of the content of your radiation protection files Employers’ Procedures in short bite sized manner we will release around 3 documents every fortnight starting in mid to late January 2024. Accompanying the document templates will be several additional short videos will help to help you your teams understand both the how and why of these documents and will be provided with each of the templates. We would hope this step-by-step methodology makes the updating a manageable process for you and your team in dental practices.