Having an X-ray

Your X-ray and You

You are having an X-ray so that your doctor or healthcare practitioner can either make a diagnosis or monitor your progress of your treatment.

Your doctor or healthcare practitioner should have explained how the results from having an X-ray can help improve your diagnosis or treatment.

Our aim is to ensure that the benefits from having the X-ray and the correct diagnosis or treatment outweigh the very low risk involved with the X-ray itself. Patient care is our priority.

Our Standards

Our X-ray equipment is regularly maintained and Radiographers and the Medical Physics perform routine safety checks on the equipment.

All our staff are appropriately trained to operate the equipment safely and effectively.

The equipment and appropriately trained staff ensure that the smallest amount of radiation is used to get an optimal image to assist in diagnosis or treatment. If there is a technical problem during your X-ray, you will
be informed.

X-rays and Radiation

The X-ray equipment uses radiation to produce an image.
Radiation can be found all around us in soils, in the air and water. We encounter natural background radiation through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

In any one year our exposure will vary depending on where we live, where we have flown to and what we have eaten.

In Perspective

For each medical X-ray you will receive a tiny amount of radiation on top of the natural background radiation.

The X-ray you will have to today carries a very low risk.

The amount of radiation you receive from the X-ray can be equivalent to natural background radiation:

References

Further information can be found through the following reading materials:

• The GOV.UK Website for details of Guidance on Patient dose
• The UK Health Security Agency Website for details on the Radiation Protection Services