There have been reports demonstrating that departmental workload and available staffing can influence the ability to consistently comply with clinical trial protocol requirements during the accrual phase (Siglinsky et al., 2025).
The following proposals for minimum requirements are therefore made and are collected within the Facility Questionnaire.
| Human resources: workload | |
|---|---|
| Minimum number of full-time radiation oncologists per department | 2.5 |
| Preferred mean number of patients treated per year per full-time radiation oncologist | 180–250 (maximum 300) |
| Minimum number of full-time qualified radiation physicists per department | 1.3 |
| Mean workload per radiation physicist | 500 patients/year (maximum) |
| Minimum number of radiation technologists per treatment unit | 2 |
| Equipment: workload | |
|---|---|
| Patients per year/per megavoltage unit (based on normal working hours) | 700 |
| Patients per year/per simulator (based on normal working hours) | 1500 |
To participate in EORTC clinical trials including radiotherapy, a Radiation Oncology Department must have at least one simulator (classical, virtual CT-simulator, or CT), a 3D treatment-planning system, access to diagnostic imaging equipment, and at least two treatment units, preferably less than 10 years old (maximum 15 years). The treatment units must include modern image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) capabilities to support accurate patient setup. Any further technical requirements are outlined within the trial protocol and/or RTQA guidelines.
