PATIENTS across the county are now benefitting from a mobile Diabetic Eye Screening service thanks to generous donations.

The additional service will further enhance the existing treatment provided by the Gloucestershire Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (GDESP) in the community.

The screening offers an alternative to some GP surgeries, and organisers anticipate it will enable screening of up to 10,000 patients each year and will help provide support for the increasing numbers of patients being diagnosed with diabetes in the county.

Over £51,000 was provided by Gloucestershire Hospital’s Charitable Funds donations and £36,638 donated by the Stroud Hospitals League of Friends has helped finance the new van.

Over the past fifteen years, the programme has provided a patient-centred and easily accessible service from GP surgeries.

This proved popular with patients who were not able to drive after being administered dilating eye drops, however many surgeries became increasingly unable to guarantee space for these clinics.

Gloucestershire Hospitals Non-Executive Director and Charitable Funds Chairman Mike Evans explains: “We’re delighted to support this very worthwhile initiative for the people of Gloucestershire. We’re extremely grateful to Professor Scanlon, the Stroud League of friends and to all those who provide charitable donations which make this possible.”

The van has two rooms enabling patients to be seen at more convenient locations near where they live, as Stroud Hospitals League of Friends President Dr Roy Lamb explains:

“We are delighted to see with the arrival of this vehicle the culmination of the necessary lengthy consultations with the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Professor Scanlon and the Gloucestershire Hospitals Charitable Funds the provision a mobile Diabetic Retinal Camera Service. The increased accessibility will undoubtedly improve the service to diabetic patients in the Stroud District and assist in keeping the ever increasing numbers of such patients under review and thus start earlier therapy and better preservation of their eyesight.”

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Programme Director Professor Peter Scanlon:

“The donations our patients, relatives and friends and family donate to our Charitable Funds enable us to provide this kind of enhanced care for our patients and we would like to thank these people for enabling us to support this project as well as the generous support from the Stroud Hospitals League of Friends without whom this would not be possible.”