rss
Br J Ophthalmol 2005;89:971-975 doi:10.1136/bjo.2004.060723
  • Clinical science
    • Scientific reports

An evaluation of the change in activity and workload arising from diabetic ophthalmology referrals following the introduction of a community based digital retinal photographic screening programme

  1. P H Scanlon1,
  2. S Carter1,
  3. C Foy2,
  4. D Ratiram1,
  5. B Harney1
  1. 1Gloucestershire Eye Unit, Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham GL53 7AN, UK
  2. 2Gloucestershire R & D Support Unit, Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham GL53 7AN, UK
  1. Correspondence to: Dr P H Scanlon Gloucestershire Eye Unit, Cheltenham General Hospital, Sandford Road, Cheltenham GL53 7AN, UK; peter.scanlonglos.nhs.uk
  • Accepted 3 February 2005

Abstract

Aims: To determine how the workload of an ophthalmology department changed following the introduction of an organised retinal screening programme.

Methods: Information was collected from the hospital medical record of people with diabetes attending eye clinics over 4 years. The first year was before screening, the next 2 years the first round, and the fourth year the second round.

Results: The total number of people with diabetes referred each year over the 4 year period was 853, 954, 974, 1051 consecutively. The number of people with diabetes in the county rose by 1400 per annum. The total number of referrals for an opinion about diabetic retinopathy was 227, 333, 363, 368, for cataract was 64, 57, 77, 93, and for glaucoma was 57, 62, 61, 68. The total number of patients referred for laser treatment over the 4 years was 77, 124, 111, and 63

Conclusion: This study suggests that the workload in the eye clinic increases in the first round of screening but in subsequent rounds it does not fall below the pre-screening level, except for laser treatment. This may be partly because of increasing numbers of people with diabetes. With the introduction of a national screening programme, this has significant workload implications for the National Health Service.

Footnotes

  • Funding: one year grant from the South West R&D Directorate in September 2001.

    MD Thesis: PS is submitting this work as part of an MD thesis to UCL.

  • Competing interests: none declared

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.