Blindness risk: Ireland's first mobile screening service to detect early signs of diabetic retinopathy - a condition that can cause blindness in people with diabetes - has been launched in the north west.
The mobile unit will enable the North Western Health Board to provide a systematic population-based screening programme to ensure everybody with diabetes is tested annually, and it will be the first region to provide such a service.
Dr Ann Shannon, a specialist in public health with the health board, said a mobile unit was chosen to ensure that everybody would get the same standard of care regardless of where they lived. The unit will travel the region visiting GP surgeries and the screening will be free.
If diabetic retinopathy is detected early, laser treatment can delay or prevent sight loss, according to Dr Shannon. It is important that people are screened annually because a person might not notice any deterioration in their eyesight until the condition is at an advanced stage.
The health board says the service reflects the comprehensive approach being taken by it to deal with the increasing problem of diabetes. There are more than 5,000 people with diabetes in its region.
"Most people with Type 1 diabetes would have some form of retinopathy after 20 years," Dr Shannon said. Some people with Type 2 diabetes would also be affected by the condition. In about 5 per cent of cases, it is sight threatening and it is the most common cause of blindness among people with diabetes.
Dr Shannon said that although people had been getting checked for the condition up until now, this had been happening in a variety of ways either at hospital clinics or with GPs, there had been no way of knowing how many people were getting checked or how regularly they were tested.
The first task of the new service is to identify everybody with diabetes in the region and then invite them for screening, which will start in February. In the unit, photographs are taken which are sent to a central imaging station where they are interpreted. People with diabetes also have a higher incidence of cataract and this can also be detected. In cases where abnormalities are found, people are referred to hospital clinics, otherwise they will be called back a year later.
Dr Margaret Morgan, a community ophthalmic physician with the North Western Health Board who will manage the service, says: "It means that fewer people will lose their sight and we will be able to provide greater support and improvement in the overall control of the condition."
The health board is also developing a chronic disease management system to ensure people with diabetes receive better care generally. Dr Shannon said the aim was to track all patients with diabetes and measure and audit their care which should then lead to better follow-up and better outcomes. She stressed that if diabetes was managed properly, people would have better outcomes.
The health board has also produced a new booklet Your Guide to Type 2 Diabetes which is available from primary care centres, GP surgeries, hospitals and the Diabetes Federation - see: www.diabetesireland.ie