Table 2 presents the inventory of medical and dental radiology appliances in service in 2005, established on the basis of the notifications by users of this type of equipment. In 2005, the number of radiological installations fell 8.1% in relation to 2004.

There is however a rise in the public sector part of the inventory, probably linked to the new notification procedure requiring hospitals to update the information they had previously submitted.

Table 3 presents the breakdown of radiology installations as of 31 December 2005, per category of appliances.

According to the information collected by the ASN, the radiology installations counted in the above tables and the tomography installations covered in point 2.2, are spread over about 4000 radiology units, in which about 7000 radiology practitioners work, assisted by more than 22,500 electroradiology operators or similar. In the field of dental radiology, 40,000 dentists in 28,600 facilities share the use of the appliances listed above.

Medical and dental radiodiagnosis

The trend, which has already been established for a number of years, continued in 2005 with a rising number of particle accelerators, now standing at 359 units (+ 2.5% in relation to 2004) and a regular fall in the number of telegammatherapy machines, which is now down to 34 (- 27%).

These installations, along with the brachytherapy units mentioned in point 2.4 below, are used by about 600 radiotherapists (350 in the public sector and 250 in the private) who work in 179 radiotherapy centres (source: SFRO).