ABSTRACT
When considering patient safety, a wide range of factors must be taken into account. Radiotherapy can be considered as a microcosm of the hospital as a whole. It reects the characteristics of high technology, complexity, fragmentation, diversity of professionals and professional activities, levels of responsibility,
knowledge levels, and the individual clinical freedom of the wider healthcare setting. Complexity, of itself, increases the rate of error by increasing the number of steps in a process, the number of tasks that must be undertaken, the options available, the vulnerability of patients, and the higher number of human interactions necessitated (Nolan 2000; Reason 2004). Issues relating to patient safety must take these factors into account by identifying areas of highest risk from specic factors and devising appropriate means to manage them.
