South London Diabetic Eye Screening Programme and Merton Integrated Learning Disability – Learning Disability Eye Screening Event

This collaboration represented an important milestone in our ongoing commitment to improving accessibility and ensuring equitable healthcare experiences for people with learning disabilities. By bringing together expertise from both teams, the event provided a supportive environment tailored to the needs of service users, helping to reduce barriers to diabetic eye screening and promote better eye health outcomes.

The event offered a valuable opportunity to work closely with individuals with learning disabilities, their families, carers, and support networks. We are extremely grateful for the continued support and encouragement provided by carers throughout the day, whose involvement played a key role in creating a positive and reassuring experience for attendees.

Beyond delivering eye screening services, the event enabled direct engagement with the local community, allowing the programme to gather real-time feedback from service users and carers and strengthen understanding of how to improve accessibility, communication, and overall patient experience.

We also thank Communications Officer, Programme Manager Andrea Orosz-Ruszin, and Clinical Lead Farhan Zaidi for delivering an engaging presentation. Their insights on the importance of screening, early detection of diabetic eye disease, and the wider pathway enhanced understanding, encouraged discussion, and highlighted the critical role of screening in protecting sight.

We look forward to building on this achievement and exploring further opportunities to support people with learning disabilities in accessing essential eye screening services across South West London.

Thank you to everyone involved in making this event such a positive and impactful experience.