Diabetic eye screening: description in brief
Information explaining the NHS diabetic eye screening programme.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This information explains diabetic eye screening and why it is offered.
People with diabetes should be directed to this information when they are invited to screening.
Free printed copies of this leaflet are provided for local screening services to send to people with their first ever screening invitations.
For more information, see the ‘order printed leaflets’ section of our guidance on how to access and order leaflets.
This information is also available above in A4 PDF format (in English) to print out and provide for people who cannot access digital information when receiving their routine screening invitations.
Resources are also available for people with learning disabilities and people who struggle with written English, including:
- an easy guide to diabetic eye screening
- a simple animation showing screening tests offered to men and women throughout their lives, including DES:
This information is available in 11 other languages:
To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.
Updates to this page
Last updated 3 October 2024 + show all updates
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Added information on stages of diabetic retinopathy to the results section.
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Information on optical coherence tomography added. Minor changes made to improve readability.
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Added NHS England contact details for requesting alternative formats.
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Added Ukrainian translation
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Translations updated inline with the DES interval changes on 1 October 2023
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The HTML document and leaflet have been changed to reflect that if no diabetic retinopathy was detected, you will be invited for screening every 1 or 2 years.
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Updating confidentiality section, replacing mention of Public Health England with NHS England.
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Addition of 'following medical advice' to regular exercise advice under 'How you can help' section.
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Addition of plain A4 PDF version for printing, to provide for people unable to access this information online.
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Added lifetime screening pathway animations to landing page.
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Translations converted to HTML.
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Updated guidance about use of personally identifiable information.
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Updated diabetic eye screening leaflet.
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Added HTML version of diabetic eye screening invitation leaflet.
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Added new easy read guide, replacing out of date leaflet.
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Added opt-out and patient consent information to leaflet.
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Addition of link to audio version.
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First published.