A multicentre audit of hospital referral for radiological investigation in England and Wales. Royal College of Radiologists Working Party.

Abstract

The variation that persisted at all levels of disaggregation of the data supports a recent suggestion that at least a fifth of x ray examinations carried out in Britain may be clinically unhelpful. An intervention study that examines the effect of guidelines of good practice and attendant peer review procedures on the baseline referral levels described above is needed to test this hypothesis further.