Main SoR website
logo
  • Home
  • Diagnostic Radiography
  • Nuclear medicine

Nuclear medicine

07/05/2020

Transfer of the site of surgery

The ARSAC notes that they have received a number of queries regarding the transfer of the site of surgery required for the administration of radioactive substances (e.g. sentinel lymph node biopsies) due to Covid-19.

"Where the administration remains at the licenced installation but the surgery is now at a different installation this constitutes a notification against the Employer licence," the ARSAC state.

"These should be submitted as an email to [email protected] to include confirmation of the arrangements for the surgical teams and procedure."

Radioactive substances temporary employer licences

Applications are being accepted for temporary employer licenses by the Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee (ARSAC).

A short form for employers has been created by the ARSAC to issue licenses to administer radioactive substances.

The licenses are for situations where existing diagnostic NHS services involving the administration of radioactive substances are being temporarily transferred because of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The ARSAC notes that, for transfers of therapeutic services, the support unit should be contacted and any applications to transfer therapy services should be submitted on the full employer licence application form.

“Any transfer of services needs careful consideration and prior risk assessment as there are other regulatory requirements that also need to be satisfied,” the advice states.

“There is no fee for processing applications, and applications will be processed as a matter of urgency.”

For V/Q SPECT procedures, employers do not need to apply to amend their licence to administer an activity greater than the DRL.

However, the administration of an activity greater than the DRL must either be directly justified by the IR(ME)R Practitioner or detailed in a revised emergency protocol that is approved by the IR(ME)R Practitioner.

“Wherever possible, the patient’s best interest should be considered, and individual patient circumstances should be assessed on a case by case basis prior to administration,” the advice states. Further information can be found on BNMS.

ARSAC is continuing to process applications for employer and practitioner licences and research approvals. All applications should be submitted to ARSAC. 

All forms are available on the website.

Covid-19 nuclear medicine recovery guidance

With the country preparing to reduce some of the restrictions associated with lockdown, the British Nuclear Medicine Society (BNMS) have released guidance to assist with the reintroduction of services.

The BNMS guidance covers:

  • Waiting room capacity and social distancing
  • Rationale for booking appointments
  • Appointments for radioiodine therapy
  • Patient booking process
  • Radiopharmaceutical supply
  • Cameras
  • IT
  • PPE and patient contact
  • Cleaning

“Hospitals will soon be able to start the process of booking patient appointments currently on their waiting lists. This ‘recovery phase’ needs to be carefully planned as the process is not straightforward,” the guidance states.

“When planning appointments, the significant level of anxiety amongst patients should not be underestimated.”

The document should be read in conjunction with the BNMS guidance for the Covid-19 pandemic and the Royal College of Radiologists Covid-19 interim guidance for restarting elective work.

Read the full guidance.

Further Resources

Journal articles

Nuclear Medicine Departments, be prepared!

Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Advisory Group member, Rayjanah Allie, has co-authored an editorial in Nuclear Medicine Communications: COVID19 - Nuclear Medicine Departments, be prepared! The editorial provides background information and hints and tips for departments on how to manage at this difficult time.

BNMS Guidance (Posted 3 April 2020)

Information and rescources from the BNMS Covid-19 hub

ARSAC Guidance(Posted 27 March 2020)

The Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee (ARSAC) has provided the following advice:

For V/Q SPECT procedures, employers do not need to apply to ARSAC to amend their licence to administer an activity greater than the DRL if this is for the purposes of reducing contact and scanning times and this has been approved by the local IR(ME)R Practitioner licence holder.

The administration of an activity greater than the DRL must either be directly justified by the IR(ME)R Practitioner, or detailed in a revised emergency protocol that is approved by the IR(ME)R Practitioner. 

FDG PET/CT of COVID-19

Covid 19 is often seen as an incidental finding on PET-CT as peripheral ground glass lesions on the CT and FDG uptake.

Please see the following article based on a case in Wuhan.

https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.202020077

    • Workforce, Governance and Regulations

      • MHRA website for reporting medicine side-effects and equipment incidents
      • Common employment questions
      • COVID testing for staff
      • Health and Safety Executive: Covid-19 RIDDOR Advice
      • Information governance
      • IR(ME)R
      • Guidance for the clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV)
      • Pregnancy
      • Radiology Service Managers
      • Returners to practice; retired radiographers; registered radiographers in other work areas; and volunteers
      • Sick leave and time off
      • Social Partnership Forum pandemic working guidance
      • National staff council terms and conditions
      • SoR members administering covid-19 vaccines
      • The Quality Standard for Imaging (QSI)
    • Infection control and PPE

      • Cleaning and decontamination of equipment
      • Contact with infected patients or suspected cases
      • Infection prevention and control responsibilities
      • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
      • PPE and the importance of workplace risk assessments
      • PPE guidance posters for imaging and oncology teams
      • PPE: Urgent update for members
      • NHS staff urged to have flu vaccine
      • Resuscitation Council UK Statement on PHE PPE Guidance
      • SoR backs call for upgrade in PPE for healthcare staff
      • Treating patients who refuse to wear a mask or suitable face covering
    • Radiotherapy

      • Radiotherapy services
    • Diagnostic Radiography

      • Imaging and interventional radiology
      • Breast screening and mammography
      • IV administration
      • MRI
      • Nuclear medicine
      • Nuclear medicine hints and tips
      • Screening restart
      • Ultrasound
      • CT
      • General radiography
    • Education and students

      • e-Learning for Healthcare
      • Image interpretation resources
      • Planned placement arrangements
      • Pre-registration education providers
      • Students: What you need to know
      • Student dos and don'ts during Covid-19
      • Student support guidance
      • CoR advice to education providers during the Covid-19 pandemic
    • Clinical Guidelines

      • RCR Guidance
      • Royal College of Surgeons Clinical guide to surgical prioritisation
    • HSC Northern Ireland

      • Breast screening
      • Guidance and Information
      • HSC questions and answers for health and social care staff
    • NHS Scotland

      • Covid special leave arrangements
      • National guidance for staff and managers
      • Covid-19 recruitment portal for former health staff and final year students
      • Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee
      • NHS pauses screening programmes across Scotland
      • NHS Scotland Psychosocial support and wellbeing - Looking after people, yourself, and your staff
      • COVID-19 eUpdates
    • NHS Wales

      • Health and Social Care in Wales – COVID-19: Looking Forward
      • Compassion starts with me - wellbeing resources, toolkits and guidance from across Wales
      • NHS Wales Colleague Health and Wellbeing
      • Student support guidance
      • FAQs
    • Wellbeing, emotional and mental health

      • Resilience and wellbeing
      • Wellbeing, emotional and mental health support and resources

    © 2020 The Society and College of Radiographers

    207 Providence Square, Mill Street, London SE1 2EW

    Telephone: 020 7740 7200

    • Privacy policy
    • Terms & conditions
    • Manage your privacy consents

    Cookies preferences

    Here you can manage how we can collect data and use cookies for the purpose of analysing website traffic and personalising content within this website but NOT on other websites. You can also manage how Google and other technology partners collect data and use cookies for ad personalisation and measurement.

    Accept recommended settings

    This will set all toggles to 'On'.

    Save and Close

    The cookies that we use make our website work and helps us to analyse how the site is used by our visitors and improve our services.

    Accept recommended settings Manage preferences