One way to reduce ophthalmology clinic waiting times for patients with diabetes

Diabetic retinopathy screening with standardised grading of digital images may result in increased referral to ophthalmology clinics. We aimed to reduce the number of unnecessary referrals.

We examined 644 consecutive patients, over a three‐month period, in a population based retinal screening programme to see if review of abnormal images, by physicians, the grader and an ophthalmologist with a special interest, rather than direct referral to an ophthalmology clinic resulted in a reduction in the number of patients requiring appointments.

The results showed that of the 644 patients screened, 482 did not need secondary review and 35 had ungradable images needing direct referral to an ophthalmology clinic. In total, 127 patients images were reviewed in a combined meeting with 62 (48.8%) requiring repeat photos and 19 (15%) being referred directly to a laser clinic. Eight diabetic ophthalmology outpatient slots were saved per week.

In conclusion, the introduction of an image review meeting with an ophthalmologist potentially freed 33 hours 15 minutes of diabetic eye clinic time. This highlights the potential benefit to both patients and secondary care Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.