Guidance

Diabetic eye screening pathways: patient, grading, referral, surveillance

This document sets out an overview of the operational pathways in the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening (DES) programme.

From:
NHS England
Published
29 October 2012
Last updated
27 September 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Diabetic eye screening pathway overviews

Ref: PHE publications gateway number 2016714

PDF, 441 KB, 8 pages

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Diabetic eye screening pathway overviews - Starting October 1

PDF, 517 KB, 8 pages

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Details

This publication illustrates, step by step, the diabetic eye screening working processes.

The document includes the:

  • retinal screening patient pathway
  • referral pathway from screening to slit lamp biomicroscopy surveillance
  • referral pathway from screening to digital surveillance
  • referral pathway from screening or surveillance to hospital eye services for diabetic retinopathy management
  • single common grading pathway
  • pathway for pregnant women

This publication was previously published by Public Health England, which closed on 30 September 2021.

Updates to this page

Published 29 October 2012
Last updated 27 September 2024 + show all updates

  1. Added clarification that publication was previously published by Public Health England.

  2. Updated guidance

  3. Throughout the documentation: Removed all references to PHE NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme Page 1: Screening is offered once every 24 months for those individuals with diabetes aged 12 years and over with two consecutive negative test results, and once every 12 months to those individuals with a positive, non-referrable result or a single negative result. NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme page 1: 4th paragraph 2nd bullet point : changed to individuals with a positive non referrable result (R0M0) NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme Page 1 ‘patients’ to ‘individuals’ or ‘Service users’ Patient pathway for retinal screening: Reviewed and renewed the pathway diagram Referral pathway for digital surveillance: Reviewed and renewed the pathway diagram Referral pathway for slit lamp biomicroscopy surveillance: Reviewed and renewed the pathway diagram Referral pathway for management of diabetic retinopathy: Reviewed and renewed the pathway diagram Pathway for pregnant patients: Reviewed and renewed the pathway diagram Single common grading pathway: Reviewed and renewed the pathway diagram

  4. Updated pregnancy flowchart.

  5. Updated edition of pathway overviews document.

  6. First published.

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