Quality control and risk management: specific characteristics of the French health care system

The techniques used in the field of radiotherapy are the same everywhere, but the organisation and scope of activities vary depending on the country, and sometimes depending on the specific region. The International Radiotherapy Conference held in Paris and devoted to the radiation protection of radiotherapy patients provides us with an opportunity to discuss some of the specific characteristics of the French health care system. These past years, the context of workforce shortage associated with strong government initiatives, the implementation of several successive National Cancer Plans, the transposition of European Directives into French law (EURATOM 96/29 and 97/43) and the accident in Epinal have had a rapidly restructuring effect on the French radiotherapy sector. (authors)