Diabetes is one of the leading causes of blindness in people of working age in the UK; however if it is detected early it can be easily treated. Diabetes can affect the small blood vessels in the part of your eye called the retina. This is known as diabetic retinopathy. Regular screening for diabetic retinopathy is essential to help prevent sight loss from diabetes.
What is diabetic retinopathy?
Diabetic retinopathy means changes to the retina (the seeing part at the back of the eye) and is a complication that can affect anyone with diabetes.
It is treatable, but may have no obvious symptoms, so you might not know you have it until it is well advanced. You can find lots more information about the condition on the NHS Choices diabetic retinopathy pages.
Screening for diabetic retinopathy
Guy’s and St Thomas’ provide the Diabetic Eye Screening Programme for people living in south east London. We screen the eyes of people with diabetes to detect the early stages of diabetic retinopathy using special digital cameras. Most people have no signs of diabetic changes but must be seen each year to ensure this remains the case.
If we do detect changes, we will refer you directly to see a specialist eye doctor at a local hospital.
There is a national screening programme for diabetic retinopathy and all people with diabetes should have their eyes screened regularly.
Screening clinics
Screening takes place in several locations. See the clinics page for more information.
Danny's story
This is Danny. He has Type 1 diabetes. In this film Danny reminds us why it's important to have regular eye screenings.
Changes to the diabetic eye screening service
From 1 November 2015, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust took over as the provider of diabetic eye screening in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich (in addition to Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham). The new programme will be called the South East London Diabetic Eye Screening Programme, although we are sure that many people will continue to use the acronym “DECS” for Diabetic Eye Complication Screening, which is what the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham programme has been known as since its inception in the 1990s.
All screening clinic locations (including the high street opticians in Bexley and Greenwich) and contact details will remain the same.
Find out more about the changes to the diabetic eye screening service (Word 41Kb).
Useful links
- Diabetes UK website – information about diabetes and support available to people living with diabetes.