Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy in Europe - Progress Since 2011

National Representatives Meeting. Manchester.
Thursday 26th June 2016

Conference organising committee:
Deborah Broadbent, Simon Harding, Yvonne D'Souza, Tunde Peto

Between the 2008 and 2011 conferences countries reported significant progress. However, progress varied between countries, and rural areas still often had poor access to ophthalmologists. Two main themes emerged as barriers to continued progress: involving health insurance companies and private ophthalmologists in the context of a primarily health insurance-base system; and sustainability of funding in the light of increasing prevalence of diabetes. Specific recommendations were made to address these two themes, and action plan was formulated. This half day conference, which was satellite to the EASDec meeting, was held to review progress towards these recommendations and discuss the impact of new technologies.

Abstracts were submitted from 27 European countries describing progress since 2011. An overview of the abstracts was presented, followed by presentations and discussions focussing on: systemic diabetes care; relationships between health professionals involved in the care of people with diabetes; addressing experiences in engaging with health providers; extended screen intervals; the role of optical coherence tomography; the impact of new treatments; automated grading; telemedicine and remote grading; the use of wide-field imaging and portable imaging hardware; home monitoring, and the implementation of new technologies.