# First eye screening appointment



## Grogg1 (Jan 9, 2017)

Since being diagnosed just under 2 months ago I had my first eye screening appointment.

All very quick and painless but 4-6 weeks for results. 

I went to the optician a few weeks ago as my vision had changed after my blood sugar dropped and optician give my eyes a good check and took photographs which she was happy with.

I asked at the hospital what the difference was with the hospital pictures and she said nothing aside from drops to dilate the pupils as it's easier to photograph and unlike in your opticians where they read pictures immediately and can take more if not clear, because the hospital read them weeks later so can't recall you they give you drops!   If this is true isn't this a waste of time and money.  Optician do it for free, patients would not need time off work - i.e. you can't drive for 4 hours as opposed to a 15 minute optician appointment and the biggest bonus, no waiting for results.


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## Greyhound Gal (Jan 9, 2017)

Many opticians do the retinopathy eye tests as well, and free for diabetics each year. The drops enable photos to be taken of the very back of your eye very clearly and means any very early stages of retinopathy can be spotted. The optician can say 'it looks fine', but specialist optomologists (sp?) need to look at them to be sure. It only takes about 2 weeks for me for my results to be sent by letter to me.


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## Greyhound Gal (Jan 9, 2017)

Forgot to mention that you cannot drive afterwards whoever does them.


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## grovesy (Jan 9, 2017)

When I had my last eye test last year at Specsavers , it took the opticians 2-3 attempts to get a photo with out drops.


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## Grogg1 (Jan 9, 2017)

grovesy said:


> When I had my last eye test last year at Specsavers , it took the opticians 2-3 attempts to get a photo with out drops.


I was at Specsavers and the first lot of photos were fine.  I had a good check over as it was very quiet there so they had loads of time for me and talked to me about what she was doing etc.  Best eye test I had in a long time.  Less focussed on correcting vision as she said they might change again and more focussed on the health of my eyes.  She spent what felt like ages looking eyes closely and making me look up, down, right, left etc.  I have been having eye checks for over 45 years due to childhood sight issues & surgery and this was the most thorough I can remember.


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## Mini-Vicki (Jan 9, 2017)

Greyhound Gal said:


> Many opticians do the retinopathy eye tests as well, and free for diabetics each year. The drops enable photos to be taken of the very back of your eye very clearly and means any very early stages of retinopathy can be spotted. The optician can say 'it looks fine', but specialist optomologists (sp?) need to look at them to be sure. It only takes about 2 weeks for me for my results to be sent by letter to me.



Yep you need an opthalmologist to look at the pictures. They are more trained to spot the very early signs of retinopathy than an optician! Definitely not a waste of time


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## Grogg1 (Jan 9, 2017)

The other thing I noticed as I sat in the Diabetic Eye check clinic corridor is that only 1 person was obese!  Majority average weight.  The way the media talks about the Diabetes epidemic you would think everyone would be waddling in!


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## Hayley Lloyd (Jan 9, 2017)

Grogg1 said:


> The other thing I noticed as I sat in the Diabetic Eye check clinic corridor is that only 1 person was obese! Majority average weight. The way the media talks about the Diabetes epidemic you would think everyone would be waddling in!


Made me chuckle. Some of us do waddle but are waddling less now than when first diagnosed. Lol.


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## grovesy (Jan 9, 2017)

Grogg1 said:


> The other thing I noticed as I sat in the Diabetic Eye check clinic corridor is that only 1 person was obese!  Majority average weight.  The way the media talks about the Diabetes epidemic you would think everyone would be waddling in!


You have to bear in mind you had your in a Hospital clinic they might have been Type 1. In my area I have mine in a special area of a Lloyd's Chemist and most when I go are Elderly, but not necessarily overweight either. I have only ever waited at the most a couple of weeks for the results.


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## eggyg (Jan 9, 2017)

One of the main reasons to go the hospital/clinic for your screening is to enable them to have the results on your medical records and to be able to compare year on year. I work in an opticians and the optometrist told me that. We charge for a retinal photo although of course the eye test is free.


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## trophywench (Jan 9, 2017)

The Diabetic retinal photos are not checked by "an '' ophthalmologist - they are each checked by more than one of them!  So - it take longer.

The photos actually show a lot more detail and every millimetre can be magnified hugely.

I'm more than happy with the service taking a bit longer, thanks!  Plus of course - by no means all opticians take the photos anyway.


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## Grogg1 (Jan 9, 2017)

eggyg said:


> One of the main reasons to go the hospital/clinic for your screening is to enable them to have the results on your medical records and to be able to compare year on year. I work in an opticians and the optometrist told me that. We charge for a retinal photo although of course the eye test is free.


That's a good point about having them on your medical records but if Optician can do the photos/checks to the same standard then I'm sure an IT solution could be found to update patient records.

I thought within the NHS your records, especially within the same Heath Authority would be held centrally but it appears not.  While my GP surgery had a letter from the HA after my cancer diagnosis from routine screening the pre op test results that I had were not sent to my GP, nor was the information about my broken limb!  I thought I had one medical record that GP accessed as did the hospital but alas no!


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## Grogg1 (Jan 9, 2017)

trophywench said:


> The Diabetic retinal photos are not checked by "an '' ophthalmologist - they are each checked by more than one of them!  So - it take longer.
> 
> The photos actually show a lot more detail and every millimetre can be magnified hugely.
> 
> I'm more than happy with the service taking a bit longer, thanks!  Plus of course - by no means all opticians take the photos anyway.


 I doubt that everyone is double checked, I bet it's either on a sample basis or if a certain criteria is met.  I suspect this as no doubt resources are tight. 

I didn't realise not all opticians take pictures as I've had photos taken at my check up for years.  I thought it was standard procedure and I've never been charged.  I have a free eye test through work every 2 years as I use a VDU, though now I know they are free anyway due to D.   The optician this time, as it was quiet I think, showed me the pictures on her computer this time.

My brother in law who is same HA told me that results here take ages but they are the screening HA for a large area apparently.  I hate waiting for results as my mind goes into overdrive as I've learnt from experience that no news isn't always good news


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## eggyg (Jan 9, 2017)

Grogg1 said:


> That's a good point about having them on your medical records but if Optician can do the photos/checks to the same standard then I'm sure an IT solution could be found to update patient records.
> 
> I thought within the NHS your records, especially within the same Heath Authority would be held centrally but it appears not.  While my GP surgery had a letter from the HA after my cancer diagnosis from routine screening the pre op test results that I had were not sent to my GP, nor was the information about my broken limb!  I thought I had one medical record that GP accessed as did the hospital but alas no!


We'll as you have found out even within the NHS records aren't always "tied" together so I don't see it ever happening automatically between privately owned opticians! We can and do, send scans/faxes ( I know,  so old fashioned ) of retinal photos etc to GPs or eye clinics but only if asked for. A lot of people think opticians are part of the NHS but they're not, they are businesses who make money from private eye tests and selling specs, and claiming the cost of NHS funded tests back from the relevant health authority. That's why some folks get annoyed when they try and book an eye test before they're due and we tell them they may have to pay if there isn't any change. The rules for claiming are very strict to stop fraud of course.


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## Carolg (Jan 13, 2017)

Greyhound Gal said:


> Many opticians do the retinopathy eye tests as well, and free for diabetics each year. The drops enable photos to be taken of the very back of your eye very clearly and means any very early stages of retinopathy can be spotted. The optician can say 'it looks fine', but specialist optomologists (sp?) need to look at them to be sure. It only takes about 2 weeks for me for my results to be sent by letter to me.


I got my results last year there and then and didn't get drops as they got a good picture. Also had it done at opticians a few weeks earlier


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## Radders (Jan 14, 2017)

Mini-Vicki said:


> Yep you need an opthalmologist to look at the pictures. They are more trained to spot the very early signs of retinopathy than an optician! Definitely not a waste of time


My hospital send me to an optician for my annual test, so how does that work? Also the last three times they have managed to get good photos without the drops as I made it very clear how extremely painful I find them and how they affect me for hours afterwards. 
It took a little longer as I had to sit in the dark between each pic but so much better than walking round unable to focus for the rest of the day.


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## Robin (Jan 14, 2017)

Radders said:


> My hospital send me to an optician for my annual test, so how does that work? Also the last three times they have managed to get good photos without the drops as I made it very clear how extremely painful I find them and how they affect me for hours afterwards.
> It took a little longer as I had to sit in the dark between each pic but so much better than walking round unable to focus for the rest of the day.


In our area it depends on your GP as to where you get seen, even if you go to the hospital for diabetic check ups. Some GP practices opted to use local Opticians' services, others ( like mine) opted to have the mobile unit from the hopsital that comes round annually and sets up the machine in one of the nurses rooms. When I missed the mobile service because i was away, I had to go the main eye hospital in Oxford for mine, and it was absolutely rammed, so I can see why your hospital might refer you back to your GP option.


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## wiseowl (Jan 14, 2017)

Good afternoon yes I went to specsavers and they showed me the images of the back of my eyes on his Ipod,all  ok,,have just received my eye check letter this morning,for the 13th February,that will be 4 months to the day since I was diagnosed,it is at my surgery,I am thinking whether to have the drops or not as I had alot of trouble when I had drops a few years back


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## grovesy (Jan 14, 2017)

wiseowl said:


> Good afternoon yes I went to specsavers and they showed me the images of the back of my eyes on his Ipod,all  ok,,have just received my eye check letter this morning,for the 13th February,that will be 4 months to the day since I was diagnosed,it is at my surgery,I am thinking whether to have the drops or not as I had alot of trouble when I had drops a few years back


For the last few years I have had to sign a consent form and information leaflet and what to do if have problems for the drops, never used to do this. I would ask the person doing the drops.


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## trophywench (Jan 14, 2017)

grovesy said:


> For the last few years I have had to sign a consent form and information leaflet and what to do if have problems for the drops, never used to do this. I would ask the person doing the drops.



I had to do that this year (well, last year now LOL) for the first time. Bit bonkers really, considering I had a cataract done earlier in the year, lots of appointments and examinations and eye drops - but neither forms to sign nor info leaflets about the drops!


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## Radders (Jan 15, 2017)

grovesy said:


> For the last few years I have had to sign a consent form and information leaflet and what to do if have problems for the drops, never used to do this. I would ask the person doing the drops.


Wow, that sounds worrying, as if they could actually do some damage? What kind of things did it suggest might happen?


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## Radders (Jan 15, 2017)

Robin said:


> In our area it depends on your GP as to where you get seen, even if you go to the hospital for diabetic check ups. Some GP practices opted to use local Opticians' services, others ( like mine) opted to have the mobile unit from the hopsital that comes round annually and sets up the machine in one of the nurses rooms. When I missed the mobile service because i was away, I had to go the main eye hospital in Oxford for mine, and it was absolutely rammed, so I can see why your hospital might refer you back to your GP option.


I'm pretty sure it's the hospital that send me there; the appointment letter comes from the hospital and the report goes to them. I've never been to my GP for anything to do with diabetes.


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## Robin (Jan 15, 2017)

Radders said:


> I'm pretty sure it's the hospital that send me there; the appointment letter comes from the hospital and the report goes to them. I've never been to my GP for anything to do with diabetes.


Oh mines all done via the hospital, it just depends on where you're registered with a GP as to where they send you. When the screening unit comes to the surgery, the normal GP receptionist doesn't have any info about which patients to expect . Mad, I know, but it does help only having to walk five mins down the road.


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## Grogg1 (Jan 19, 2017)

I had my results to day and no changes due to diabetes!  No retinopathy and no maculopathy in either eye.


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## grovesy (Jan 19, 2017)

That is good.


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## Northerner (Jan 20, 2017)

Grogg1 said:


> I had my results to day and no changes due to diabetes!  No retinopathy and no maculopathy in either eye.


Excellent news!


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## Mark Parrott (Jan 22, 2017)

That's brilliant news.


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