Diabetic Eye Screening is Changing (Jan 2021)
The UK National Screening Committee has recommended a change to how often people are invited for diabetic eye screening, based on their risk of sight loss.
This decision was made following scientific evidence which tells us that those at low risk of sight loss can be safely screened every two years.
Diabetic eye screening is an important part of your NHS diabetic care. It looks for a condition called diabetic retinopathy which, if left untreated, may cause blindness or serious damage to the eyesight.
How often you’re screened from now on will depend on your previous screening results.
If your last two screening results showed any signs of retinopathy, you’ll continue to be screened every year, or every 6 months.
- If your last two screening tests found no retinopathy, you usually only need to be screened every two years, rather than every year. This is because you’re at low risk of sight loss.
- If you’ve only been screening once before, you’ll be screened every year. You’ll usually be moved over to two-yearly screening if you receive two screening results where no retinopathy is found.
The screening test only looks for retinopathy, so it’s important that you still go for regular eye tests too.
When will my next appointment be?
To find out more about diabetic eye screening and to watch our video on what happens at your appointment, visit www.nhsinform.scot/des