ABSTRACT
AIMS: To investigate variables at the demographic and primary care practice levels that influence the uptake of diabetic retinopathy screening. METHODS: Data were extracted from the management software of one screening programme for 21 797 people registered with 79 general practices. Uptake was examined by gender, age group, modality of screening (mobile unit at general practice versus high-street optometrist), and by general practice. A telephone survey of high-street optometrists provided information on the availability of screening appointments. RESULTS: Uptake was 82.4% during the study period, and was higher for men (83.2%) than for women (81.5%) (P = 0.001). Uptake varied by age group (P < 0.001), being lowest in those aged 12-39 years (67%). Uptake was higher for people invited to a general practice for screening by a mobile unit (83.5%) than for those invited for screening by a high-street optometrist (82%) (P = 0.006). After adjusting for these factors and for socio-economic deprivation score at the location of the general practice, heterogeneity in uptake rate was still observed between some practices. Our survey of optometrists indicated wide variation in the availability of time slots for screening during the week and of screening appointment provision. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetic retinopathy screening services do not achieve high uptake among the youngest or oldest age groups. Practices in the least deprived areas had the highest uptake. Variation in uptake between general practices after adjustment for individual-level variables and deprivation suggests that practice-level factors may have an important role in determining rates of screening attendance.
Subject(s)
Diabetic Retinopathy/diagnosis , Mass Screening , Mobile Health Units , Optometrists , Patient Acceptance of Health Care , Physicians, Primary Care , Practice Patterns, Physicians' , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , England , Female , Health Care Surveys , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Referral and Consultation , Socioeconomic Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Diabetic Retinopathy screening services aim to reduce the risk of sight loss amongst patients with diabetes. The rising incidence of diabetes in England and the operational need to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of screening lists led to a pilot study of electronic extraction of data from primary care. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of updating the single collated list of patients eligible for diabetic eye screening using extracts from electronic patient records in primary care. SETTING AND METHODS: The Gloucestershire Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (GDESP) provides screening for 85 General Practices in the county. Of these, 54 using Egton Medical Information Systems (EMIS) practice management system software agreed to participate in this study. The screening list held in 2009 by the Gloucestershire DESP of 14,209 patients known to have diabetes was audited against a list created with automatic extraction from General Practice records of patients marked with the diabetes Read Code C10. Those subsequently screened and referred to the Hospital Eye service were followed up. RESULTS: The Gloucestershire DESP manual list covering the 54 EMIS practices comprised 14,771 people with diabetes. The audit process identified an additional 709 (4.8%) patients coded C10, including 23 diagnosed more than 5 years ago, and 20 patients under the age of 20 who were diagnosed more than a year ago. CONCLUSION: Automatic extraction of data from General Practice identified 709 patients coded as having diabetes not previously known to the Gloucestershire DESP.
