Photographs of the back of the eye, for everyone with diabetes from 12. It does not replace your regular eye test, and people confuse the two constantly.
NHS screening is free — this page explains it, we do not sell it
Honest about who benefits and who may be harmed
A GP to talk through a result, a recall or a missed invitation
Your NHS records in the room, with your consent
Talk it through with a GP
Screening itself is free on the NHS. If you want a result explained, have been recalled, or missed an invitation and are not sure what to do, a 20-minute appointment with a GMC-registered GP is £40. Same-day appointments are usually available, 6am to 10pm, seven days a week.
Private GP care led personally by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469.
Care led personally by Dr Khan
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Everyone with diabetes aged 12 or over is invited — type 1, type 2, and diabetes managed by diet alone. You are added to the register when your diagnosis is recorded.
Diet-controlled type 2 diabetes still counts. A number of people assume screening is only for those on insulin or tablets, and it is not.
The two-yearly interval applies only to people with two clear results in a row. If anything was seen, you stay on annual screening or shorter.
If you have diabetes and become pregnant, you need screening at your booking appointment and again at 28 weeks, and more often if any changes are present.
Retinopathy can progress unusually quickly during pregnancy, and this is one of the more important things on this page for anyone with type 1 diabetes planning a family. Raise it before you conceive if you can.
This does not apply to gestational diabetes — diabetes that develops during pregnancy and resolves afterwards does not require eye screening.
Around 30 minutes, most of which is waiting for the drops to work.
Your vision will be blurred for two to six hours, and bright light will be uncomfortable.
You must not drive to or from the appointment. People turn up having driven themselves and then cannot get home, which happens often enough that it is worth stating plainly.
Bring sunglasses and arrange a lift, or use public transport.
A letter within about six weeks.
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of preventable sight loss in working-age adults in the UK.
It causes no symptoms until it is advanced. By the time vision changes, significant damage has usually already happened — and some of that damage cannot be reversed.
Found early, it is very treatable. Laser treatment and injections into the eye are effective, and the earlier they are started the more sight is preserved.
Since systematic screening was introduced, diabetic retinopathy is no longer the leading cause of certifiable blindness in working-age adults in England and Wales — a position it had held for decades. That is one of the clearest public health wins in modern UK medicine.
The window between "detectable on a photograph" and "noticeable to you" is years long. Screening exists to use that window, and the whole benefit depends on attending during it.
Reviewed against UK National Screening Committee, NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme and NICE guidance current at the date shown above.
Around four in five people invited attend, and the shortfall is concentrated in exactly the wrong places.
Longer appointments, quieter times and familiarisation visits can be arranged. These adjustments exist and are underused.
Contact an eye clinic or your GP urgently, on the same day, for:
A bleed inside the eye can happen between screening rounds, and a clear photograph six months ago does not exclude it.
Go. Referrals from screening are made because something needs looking at properly, and treatment started early preserves considerably more sight than treatment started late.
Diabetic eye screening looks for diabetic retinopathy and nothing else. It does not check:
You still need a regular sight test at an optician, usually every two years. And if you have diabetes, NHS sight tests are free — which a great many people with diabetes do not know.
Conflating the two is the commonest error here, and it leaves people with undetected glaucoma or an out-of-date prescription while believing their eyes have been fully checked.
No, and this is the most important answer here. Diabetic eye screening looks specifically for diabetic retinopathy, using dilated photographs graded by a specialist service.
Your optician checks your prescription, glaucoma, cataract and general eye health — which screening does not. You need both, and with diabetes your NHS sight test is free.
The drops blur your vision for two to six hours and make bright light uncomfortable.
Arrange a lift or use public transport, and bring sunglasses. People regularly arrive having driven and then cannot get home.
Yes. Everyone with a diagnosis of diabetes from age 12 is included, however it is managed.
Assuming screening is only for people on insulin or tablets is a common and consequential mistake.
Because retinopathy causes no symptoms until it is advanced. By the time you notice a change, damage has usually been done and some of it cannot be undone.
The entire point is to find it during the years when you feel completely fine.
Because you have had two screens in a row with no retinopathy, and the risk of developing sight-threatening disease in that window is very low.
If anything is found, you go back to annual or shorter.
No. Background changes are early and very common, and most people with them never progress to needing treatment.
It is a signal to tighten glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol control, which genuinely slows progression.
Yes, substantially. You need screening at booking and again at 28 weeks, and more often if changes are present.
Retinopathy can progress rapidly in pregnancy, so raise it early — ideally before conceiving if you are planning a pregnancy.
Usually a cataract, small pupils or difficulty holding still. It is common and not a sign anything is wrong.
You will be offered a direct examination with a slit lamp instead, which sees past the obstruction.
Glucose control, blood pressure control, cholesterol control, and not smoking. All four are established, and blood pressure matters more than people expect.
Improving control slows progression even after changes have started, which is worth knowing if you have had a result you did not want.
No — get seen the same day. A sudden shower of floaters, flashing lights or a shadow across your vision needs urgent assessment.
A bleed can occur between screening rounds, and a clear photograph months ago does not rule it out.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
August 30, 2026
On this page
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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