Preliminaries in Hungary

 
First step of conscious QA of diagnostic radiology equipment was in Hungary the so-called QC-bag in 1986-87 which was introduced by the former National Institute for Roentgenology and Radiation Physics (central expert institution of medical radiology in Hungary till 2005 when healthcare administration, unfortunately, closed it down). It was linked with the name of Sándor Csobály, and contained simple devices for QC. It tried to adapt 1982 recommendations of WHO to the Hungarian situation, with some simplifications. There was made about 35 kits, and county hospitals and some greater healthcare institutions were equipped with them. Although in principle all competent persons and institutes agreed with this initiative, in the practice it vanished quickly. Reasons of this may be found in weaknesses of home-made manufacturing of the devices, in the not appropriate convincing of interested staff and in the weak managing. This story proves that quality assurance may be widely used only in case of being obligatory and convincing all participants and making them interested in its success.
A National Patient Dose Assessment Programme has successfully run since 1989, with co-ordination of NRIRR.