The use of CT scanning by accident and emergency departments in the UK: past, present and future.

To determine the access to and use of computed tomography (CT) scanning by Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments a questionnaire was sent to all major A&E departments in the UK. Although CT scanners were present in over 80 per cent of the 225 responding hospitals, many centres (including 15.8 per cent of those with a CT scanner on site) did not have 24 h scanning facilities for emergency cases. Few departments (26 per cent) have agreed protocols with their radiology departments with regard to CT scanning and some departments transferred cases for emergency CT scans at another hospital. There are deficiencies in access to CT scanning in a significant number of hospitals. This results in some patients undergoing hazardous and in our view unnecessary transfer for scanning. Little use is made of agreed protocols between A&E and Radiology departments to simplify and speed up the process of arranging CT scans. We feel that the deficiencies identified need to be addressed particularly in the assessment of head injury.