Nottingham expands eye screening service

The Nottingham Diabetic Retinopathy Service is expanding from four to 10 locations, taking in the city-centre branch of Boots Opticians along with health centres and two hospitals.

The £4.5m community-based digital eye screening programme was recently commended in the DoH National Service Framework report as a model programme.

Launched last September, the service uses OptoMize iP, a digital imaging software and electronic patient record system from Cambridge-based Digital Healthcare. It has offered 11,000 screenings to date, at a current rate of 1,900 a month to 23,000 registered diabetic patients in Nottingham, including children from the age of 12.

Under the scheme, patients typically receive notification of their results within a fortnight. If an abnormality is detected, the patient is referred directly to a specialist clinic for further investigation and laser treatment, if appropriate, without a GP referral.