The Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service: a commentary on the first 18 months

The Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service, ACDS, is a voluntary national auditing service for radiotherapy centers. Provided free of charge the ACDS is now little over one and a half years old. While an independent audit service has been desired by the radiotherapy professions, (Radiation Oncology, Medical Physics and Radiotherapy) for a few decades, the dosimetry incidents at Adelaide and Coffs Harbor stimulated all levels of government in Australia. While not very significant in comparison to international incidents, they were important in convincing the Government to act. One outcome was a formal agreement for the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), to fund a 3 year trial program of an Australia-wide radiotherapy dosimetry audit program. In 2010, the Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DoHA to establish the auditing service (ACDS).