OUT OF HOURS CT HEAD

The radiology department is often inundated with out of hours’ requests for CT head, especially by the Accident & Emergency Department. While some scans are urgently vital to decide on life-threatening diagnosis and treatment, some non-urgent or inappropriate scans chalk up limited resources. The radiology department also offers a “drop in” service for the AE first thing at 9am the next morning. Out of hours CT Head is defined as anything that needs to be done after working hours, weekends, or urgent requests handled first at 9am the next working day. This audit aims to look at the usage of out of hours CT from our Hospital’s A&E department.