Every day we take our vision for granted…… imagine a world without vision and both the frightening and devastating impact this could have on our lives. People living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy and this, if left untreated can eventually affect their vision and lead to vision loss or even blindness.

So what is Diabetic Retinopathy? - Over a prolonged period of time, having uncontrolled high blood sugar levels can damage the blood vessels inside a part of the eye called the retina. It causes the tiny blood vessels within the eye to become damaged, get blocked and bulge, leak fluid or bleed. Diabetic retinopathy does not usually affect the vision until it has reached an advanced stage, so early detection, diagnoses and treatment is crucial to keeping their eyes healthy.

The diabetic eye screening programme provides free eye screening for everybody who has diabetes, from the age of 12. It’s a very quick and simple appointment, which involves having drops put into the eyes and taking a digital photograph of the back of the eyes, this enables us to have a more detailed look and detect any signs of diabetic retinopathy.

We run clinics from 10 different sites across County Durham and Darlington. Our team consists of a very productive and dedicated programme manager, a clinical lead ophthalmologist, an optometrist, 8 retinal screeners/graders and 4 administrative staff, who together ALL play a vital part and work extremely hard to ensure we provide a friendly, effective and efficient service for our patients.

We are organising two promotional events at different locations in County Durham and Darlington during Diabetes Awareness Week (commencing 9th June 2025) in order to highlight the impact that Diabetes can have on the eyes and the importance of ALL people living with diabetes having their eyes screened to help prevent sight loss or even blindness.

The Diabetic Eyes Screening Programme team (DESP) will also be taking part in a sponsored walk on Saturday 13th September 2025. We will be completing the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, which is nestled within the magnificent and captivating landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales offering a waterfall wonderland with spectacular views and to top this off ALL staff are aiming to walk 100 miles each, throughout the month of September 2025 to raise money and awareness for people living with diabetes and most importantly to highlight the impact it can have on their eyesight.

This year we are raising money to put towards a new slit lamp for our programme. Patients may be referred to the slit lamp clinic if we are unable to take good quality photographs of the back of the eyes. The Slit Lamp is a special microscope where a beam of light (a slit) is used to get a live, detailed view of the back of the eye and allows us to examine and determine any abnormalities or changes that may have been caused due to diabetic retinopathy.

We don’t have a Slit Lamp available at all our clinic locations and unfortunately this can mean some patients have to travel quite some distance to the next available venue, which as you can imagine, can prove very difficult especially when you can’t drive yourself. In order to get a good view of the back of the eye, drops need to be inserted, to widen the pupil, these drops can make your vision blurry for up to four hours, so patients need to either organise a lift, use public transport, taxi or ambulance transport. By having a Slit Lamp available in more locations, we feel this will not only benefit patients but also have a positive impact on the amount of patients that fail to attend their appointments.

We have a small but very dedicated team, we are all very passionate about the important job we do and the fantastic service we provide, we hope you will support us in our venture to raise money and awareness for all people living with diabetes and the importance of attending eye screening appointments. Your generosity will truly make a huge difference and can really help us not only raise awareness but also make a positive difference to people’s lives.

Please support us – giving is not just about making a donation, it’s about making a difference!