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Screening under scrutiny

Clinical Practice
The ninth Annual British Association of Retinal Screeners Conference 2009 took place in Newcastle in October. It was the largest yet with over 300 delegates. Peter Mitchell reports

Dr Rod Harvey, clinical lead for the Scottish programme, gave the opening presentation on diabetic retinal screening in Scotland.

If a GP registers a patient as diabetic they automatically go on to the National Database and are registered for screening. As someone whose screening programme has had significant problems accessing this data from local GPs, I can recognise the huge advantages of this database.

Another major difference from the English scheme is that they take a single field macular centred image and mydriasis is used only if the image is inadequate. Currently the invitation rate is 93.2 per cent (target 100 per cent) and the attendance rate is 77 per cent (target 80 per cent). The Scottish programme is looking to replace Level 1 grading by automated analysis using the Medylitix software to make significant financial savings for the programme.

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