Pre-Procedural Safety Screening in Diagnostic Imaging Across England: A Freedom of Information Study

Patient safety screening forms are a way of identifying medical history and contraindications prior to diagnostic imaging examinations. Current utilisation of patient safety forms and variation in their design is unclear.

Adopting a pragmatic research approach, we aimed to explore pre-procedural patient-completed safety screening forms from imaging providers across England to identify similarities and variation in documents currently used in clinical practice.

A freedom of information (FOI) request was sent to all acute National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in England and Independent Service Providers (IS) between 6th July 2025 and 22nd July 2025. Organisations were asked whether screening forms used across the diagnostic imaging were completed on paper or through digital methods. Paper versions requested for analysis. Documents have been assessed with regards to procedure or purpose and design.

FOI responses were received from 126 NHS organisations and three IS providers, an overall response rate of 83.2%, with 91.3% of the NHS organisations responding. The average response time was 21.7 working days (range 2-106), with 72 organisations (55.8%) responding within the anticipated 20 working days. Organisations most commonly use paper forms, with only one organisation confirming that all pre-procedural checks were completed using digital forms.

This study has drawn on data obtained through the FOI Act. Current patient safety screening forms are largely paper-based and demonstrate inconsistencies which may influence their interpretation and lead to errors. Future studies should evaluate their use in practice to inform evidence-based developments in this area.