Retinal screening is an important part of diabetes care. Diabetes can affect the small blood vessels at the back of your eye, known as the retina. If left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can damage your eyesight and, in some cases, lead to sight loss.

Regular retinal screening checks for signs of diabetic retinopathy and helps ensure that any necessary follow-up care is arranged promptly. It is important to attend your screening appointments when invited. The changes we look for often do not affect your vision, even in the later stages of the condition. This is why screening is so important, as it can detect problems early, before they lead to noticeable vision changes or sight loss.

Sometimes you may be asked to attend screening more often. Here are some common reasons: 

1. Unclear images: If the photographs taken at your appointment are not clear, we will book another appointment to try again. This can happen if the dilation drops did not work well or were not used. Please attend the new appointment.
2. Other eye conditions: Conditions like cataracts can make it hard to capture images. In this case, you will be invited for a Slit Lamp appointment, where different equipment is used to examine the back of your eye. 
3. Closer monitoring: If we need to monitor your retina more closely, we may invite you to attend a Digital Surveillance (DS) or Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) clinic. These appointments are similar to your routine screening, but may involve more frequent visits, additional retinal photographs, or advanced scanning techniques to provide a more detailed assessment of your eyes. This type of follow-up is usually recommended when diabetic retinopathy requires closer observation but does not currently need treatment in the eye hospital.
4. Pregnancy: If you are pregnant, we will invite you for more frequent appointments during your pregnancy. Please see further details about screening in pregnancy. 

Many eye conditions will be reviewed similarly. Unless the eye screening service is specifically informed by the eye hospital that your Diabetic Retinopathy is being managed by them, you will be invited for community screening.  

Reviews for conditions such as Glaucoma, Macula Degeneration and Cataracts may require an Ophthalmologist to review your retina, but they may not record the presence of Diabetic Retinopathy, so it is important you attend both your screening and your hospital appointments.  

The screening programme is in continual communication with hospital eye services to ensure the correct care is given.  If you believe you are under the hospital and that diabetic retinopathy is being managed, please Contact Us. 

We would always encourage you to take up invitations for your retinal screening when you are invited, but we understand that sometimes now might not be the best time to attend and there may be a more convenient time for you. Changes to your appointment can be made by contacting our central administration team or via online portal.

Your screening appointment will be in 6 easy steps, including

During the appointment (It may take around 45 minutes for the whole screening process.):

1. Asking your eye test or other eye-related medical history
2. Testing visual acuity
3. Putting dilation drops
4. Photographing the eyes
5. Grading
6. Receiving result letter
   It may take 3 weeks to receive the results. For getting the results faster, please create an account on the online portal.

Many high street opticians can take images of your eyes for a fee, but they are usually not part of the National Screening Service. This means their tests are not recognised as part of the official screening programme. 

Opticians check your vision, so it’s important to attend both your regular optician appointments and your diabetic eye screening appointments.

The effects of diabetes on the small blood vessels around your body can take time to appear.  

Changes to your diet and lifestyle may have reduced your HbA1c to a “Diabetes Resolved” level, which is fantastic, but to ensure your eyesight is protected we will continue to offer you screening.

The programme you are assigned to is based on the one registered with your primary care provider. If you would prefer to attend a different programme, we will need notification from you and your consent to inform both the new screening service and your registered GP. 

Once your consent has been received by the new programme and your GP, you will be invited by the new screening service. To ensure continuity of care, we will request annual updates from the screening service. 

You will be sent results from screening typically within a few weeks of attending.  If you have a mobile number or email address registered to us, you will receive a text message to log in the Online Portal to retrieve your results.  Otherwise, you will receive the letter via post. 

The captured pictures will be graded by our graders and the results will be classified.  The outcome of screening will be depended on the grades, ranging from standard routine to urgent hospital referrals.  For details, please visit the “About My Results” page. 

Receiving a positive result can feel worrying, but the most important thing is to attend any follow-up appointments. Diabetic Retinopathy is treatable, and sight loss can be prevented if it is detected early and treated promptly. 

If you have been referred to a hospital, please make sure you attend the appointment and receive treatment if needed. 

If your results indicate that another appointment will be offered for monitoring, we will arrange this for you. It is important to keep these appointments so we can check for any changes. 

If you are concerned about your results, please Contact Us, and we will arrange for someone to discuss them with you. 

You can access the online portal using the link or QR code provided in your letter, or through our website. While we aim to make the site easy to use, we’ve also provided a step-by-step video guide on our website to help you.

All first-time users will need to create a new account to access the portal. 

The verification process is designed to keep your information secure and accurate. Taking a little extra time ensures your details are protected and everything is set up correctly for a smooth experience.

The diabetic eye screening online portal is currently standalone and not linked to the NHS App. All first-time users will need to create a new account to access the portal.

Technology is constantly evolving, and we work hard to stay up to date. We are currently working on linking the online portal to the NHS App to make access easier for our service users.

We understand this can be frustrating. If the delay is due to connectivity issues, repeating the process may lead to the same problem. Instead, we recommend contacting our administration team via ‘Contact Us’ so we can assist you directly.

Yes, you can Contact Us to update your preference and continue receiving letters by post.

Appointments are released up to 30 days in advance. If you don’t see any available slots, please contact our administration team via ‘Contact Us’, and we’ll be happy to help you book an appointment.

At the moment, the portal does not display eye images. However, we are working on improving the system and hope to offer this feature in the future. 

To make screening more accessible, we hold clinics in multiple locations and on different days each week. Our appointment system is designed to ensure efficiency and has been shown to improve attendance. 

We understand that busy schedules can make it hard to attend at certain times. If your appointment isn’t convenient, you can easily change it online via the portal or contact our administration team through ‘Contact Us’, and we’ll help you find a time that works for you.

We send reminders to help you keep your appointment and results updated. These reminders are designed to enhance communication with us, as diabetic eye screening is an important part of protecting your eyesight.  You can opt out of SMS notifications anytime by contacting us. 

OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) scan uses light waves to take more than 1,000 images of your eye, from the retina to the optic nerve, to create a detailed 3D image that gives more accurate results than standard cameras. The scans detect changes to the eye that don’t show up in colour photography, such as a thickening of the retina.

The following service users will receive OCT scans:

• Service users in Digital Surveillance (DS) pathway (except pregnant patients) who are screened more frequently.
• Service users whose last results show signs diabetic retinopathy progression (i.e. R2L, R3S or low risk M1)
• Maculopathy monitoring referrals back from the Hospital Eye Services.

Our OCT screening venues:
– BANES, Swindon & Wiltshire
1. Swindon Health Centre (Swindon)
2. Salisbury Medical Practice (Wiltshire)
3. Riverside Health Centre (Bath)

– Central Mersey
1. Eric Moore Partnership Medical Practice (Warrington)
2. ASDA St. Helens (St. Helens)
3. Highfield Health Clinic (Halton)
4. Manor Farm Primary Care Resource Centre (Knowsley)

– Dorset
1. Bournemouth Life Centre (Bournemouth)
2. The Spire (Poole)
3. St Aldhelms Church (Weymouth)

– South West London
1. Purley War Memorial Hospital 
2. Junction Health Centre 
3. The Nelson Health Centre

It is estimated that 120,000 hospital ophthalmology appointments are set to be saved through OCT, once rolled out across the country, helping ease hospital backlogs and it is expected the number of hospital appointments saved will continue to rise.

If you are eligible for OCT scans, your local Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) will send you an appointment letter when your next screening appointment is nearly due. It’s important to attend the appointment to prevent the development of diabetic retinopathy. However, the implementation of OCT scans may vary from different local DESPs. Please check with your local DESP for the exact rollout date.

For more information, please visit NHS England website:

NHS England » Digital eye screening for people with diabetes could save hundreds of thousands of hospital appointments

People who are at a lower risk of diabetic eye disease will now start to be invited for screening every 2 years instead of every year.

Research shows that it is safe for people with no evidence of diabetic retinopathy on two consecutive screening occasions to be screened every 2 years.

This change has been recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The changes have already been made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This change will help the NHS improve its service by reducing the number of appointments lower risk diabetics need to attend. Therefore, improving the service offered to them.

You are at lower risk diabetic eye disease if your last two diabetic eye screenings found no sign of diabetic eye disease.

If you notice any changes to your eyesight, contact your local optometrist or optician straight away. Do not wait for your next screening appointment.

Yes, the change applies to anyone aged 12 or over whose last two screenings found no sign of diabetic eye disease (diabetic retinopathy).

You will be invited for screening every 2 years as long as no changes are found at your diabetic eye screening appointments. If changes are found, you will be screened more often.

To begin with, we will invite you for screening every year. If your last two diabetic eye screenings found no sign of diabetic eye disease (diabetic retinopathy), we will be able to invite you every 2 years in future.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is the independent scientific committee that makes screening recommendations to UK government ministers and the NHS. In 2016, the UK NSC recommended changing the screening interval from every year to every two years for people at low risk of diabetic eye disease. This was because a large study showed that it was safe to invite people in this lower risk group every two years rather than annually. The UK NSC’s recommendation was based on the evidence presented in this document: Extending diabetic eye screening intervals for people at low risk of developing sight threatening retinopathy: a consultation.