Eye-screening facility for diabetics in Wales

The focus on prevention of diabetes and diabetes-related complications is growing. It should be a priority for healthcare services to install testing facilities to ensure early warnings for patients. This is exactly what has happened in Wales, where patients who have diabetes are now able to use a new eye-screening service. This service could help prevent blindness amongst the diabetic population.
The new service, called the Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Service for Wales has been launched in the Welsh Borough of Caerphilly, and will provide the diabetic community with mobile screening cameras . This facility will hold clinics at health centres, hospitals and doctors’ surgeries around the borough.
The screening facility is to work closely with the local health board, and GPs in the area. All known patients who have diabetes will be invited to attend the eye screening in the next year.
Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes, affecting around 40 per cent of diabetes patients. When left untreated, the condition can lead to blindness. The condition is entirely preventable though, and therefore the importance of this type of screening cannot be overestimated. One expert was reported as saying that “this simple eye test can, quite literally, mean the difference between losing or retaining your sight and it should be remembered that nearly half of all diabetes patients are at risk.”