A newly refurbished diabetic eye screening clinic has opened at Bassetlaw Hospital, creating an upgraded environment for patients undergoing specialist assessments and screening.
The facility has been delivered by the Diabetic Eye Screening Programme at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (DBTH) and is intended to improve the setting in which diabetic eye disease is identified and monitored.
The refurbished clinic includes a dedicated waiting area and examination rooms equipped for retinal photography, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and slit lamp examinations.
A separate room has also been created for grading screening images, with patients typically receiving their final results within two weeks.
The nurse-led service provides screening alongside specialist advice and support on diabetes and eye health. Patients requiring further investigation or treatment can be referred to the appropriate service.
Dr Shivani Dewan, lead for the Diabetic Eye Screening Programme at DBTH, said the refurbished facility would provide an improved environment for both patients and clinical teams.
The opening is part of wider work by the service to improve access to diabetic eye screening across Bassetlaw and surrounding communities.
Previous initiatives have included community screening sessions at Worksop Library, outreach clinics at GP practices across Doncaster and dedicated sessions for people with learning disabilities.
Denise Smith, chief operating officer at DBTH, said the Trust was continuing to explore ways of delivering services in locations and environments that better meet patients' needs.
Regular diabetic eye screening can help identify changes associated with diabetic retinopathy before symptoms become noticeable, allowing patients to receive appropriate monitoring, advice or treatment where required.
