A quantitative analysis of diabetic retinopathy screening in a regional treatment centre

The aim of the study was to assess the current diabetic retinopathy screening infrastructure and implications on workload for a designated treatment centre following roll-out of a national screening programme. A combination of chart analysis and patient questionnaire was undertaken over a 4-week period in 2011 at Cork University Hospital (CUH). Data were collected on 97 patients and categorized. as demographic, medical, and screening-related. The majority of patients (80; 82.5%} had either no retinopathy or background retinopathy only. One (1.0%) patient was deemed to be ungradable due to dense cataract, while 6 (6.2%) patients had non-diabetic ocular pathology requiring follow-up. Only 11% were screened through retinal photography. In all, 74 (76.3%) patients were deemed suitable for community rather than hospital screening. Digital retinal photography is an underused screening resource Significant numbers of patients could be discharged from hospital-based to community screening to offset the increased workload expected from the national screening programme.