Diabetes Retina Screening Free

bravo

Ok so a bit of a rant but some info on free retina screening for diabetics.

Received a letter from http://www.diabeticretinascreen.ie/ offering a free Retina Screen (free, Government funded).

I have Type 2 for a few years and as part of my public hospital appointments (several medical things going on), I get my retina screening test as part of my eye test every year or two, so why am I being offered this as well?

Am I the only one in this situation? I have no confidence in Minister Reilly, since he reneged on giving free GP care to LTI patients as promised in Budget 2011 and has done feck all since in this respect, so is this just another waste of money which could be better used elsewhere, or am I missing something?

Modified-IRL

I'm type 1 and used to get my retina check done in the hospital every year or 2, now it's compulsory to get it done annually, I'm not complaining and either should you, your eyes and free are most important to be check as often as possible,

Somebody isn't filling you in correctly it seems

gctest50

Modified-IRL wrote: »

......... now it's compulsory to get it done annually.............

That could be a bit misleading to people - its not compulsory

graflynn

bravo wrote: »

Ok so a bit of a rant but some info on free retina screening for diabetics.

Received a letter from http://www.diabeticretinascreen.ie/ offering a free Retina Screen (free, Government funded).

I have Type 2 for a few years and as part of my public hospital appointments (several medical things going on), I get my retina screening test as part of my eye test every year or two, so why am I being offered this as well?

Am I the only one in this situation? I have no confidence in Minister Reilly, since he reneged on giving free GP care to LTI patients as promised in Budget 2011 and has done feck all since in this respect, so is this just another waste of money which could be better used elsewhere, or am I missing something?

Hello Bravo,
From what I can understand the reason this new national programme was created was because some people with type 2 are treated only by their GP's and therefore were missing out on their annual eye screening (among other things).

And also because the level of care offered to patients with diabetes seemed to vary greatly from region to region.

Because it's a national programme the idea is that less people will be missed, that's the hope anyway.

gctest50

It should make a difference

While the prevalence of blindness varies widely, the average prevalence of blindness in a diabetic population seems to be around 3%. Experience from the Nordic countries clearly shows that this number can be reduced to less than 1%. If we take, for example, a community of one million individuals with a 5% prevalence of diabetes mellitus, this amounts to 50,000 diabetic patients and 1,500 blind diabetic patients. By instituting a screening program, it is reasonable to expect the number of blind diabetic patients to be reduced by 1,000 within 5 – 10 years.

http://bit.ly/1nUjnrG

Modified-IRL

gctest50 wrote: »

That could be a bit misleading to people - its not compulsory

Ok maybe I was wrong there, didn't mean to come across so strong but why would you complain about getting a free test on your eyes though, very important as a diabetic

MsTaz

I've had mine tested both ways & the free retina screening is far superior. I was recently at tge hospital & they put drops in had a quick look & said they spotted a few abnormalities but nothing to worry about & that they'd see me next year, tthe examination lasted less than 5mins. My free retinal exam was fantastic, they checked for everything& went tgrough everything in detail with me

colrow

I rang the diabetes screening place as I hadn't recieved a letter, and I was worried I wasn't on the list, I was though TG. The lady on the phione said they would be sending a letter at the end of the year.

I had an eye test last week, and the optician checked my retina, the verdict was "It looks ok, but I'll need to do a pic with your eyes dilated, if you want to"

Not as reassuring as MsTaz's experience, and I'm looking for ward to mine.

I work abroad a lot, and I've only had one Retinal exam,that was a year after I was diagnosed with Tpye 2, and thats 8 years ago.