A quality assurance system based on ISO standards: experience in a radiotherapy department

The European radiotherapy society has for many years had a great interest in quality assurance. The EORTC radiotherapy group has put enormous effort into its quality assurance programmes. However, besides programmes for dosimetry and guide-lines for infrastructure, the organisation of a department should also be subject to a quality assurance system. In 1992, in the radiotherapy department in Leiden, a project was started to develop a quality assurance system based on the so-called ISO 9001 quality standards. This paper describes how these standards can be applied to create a quality assurance system in a hospital department.