Local Information for Bolton Practitioners

Bolton contact details:

Bolton Integrated Care Partnership
Lever Chambers
27 Ashburner St
Bolton
BL1 1SQ
Tel: 01204 462000
Email: gmicb-bol.communications@nhs.net

Diabetic Retinopathy screening

A community based retinal camera screening scheme operates in the Bolton area.

Patients with diabetes should be regularly screened and be encouraged to attend their screening. However, it needs to be reinforced that this does not replace the need for regular eye examinations as they can be more prone to ocular complications.

If patients are not under regular screening review, the patients GP should be informed.

Non sight threatening (R1 and R2) retinopathy does not require referral. Information on screening programmes and details and examples of the grading criteria are linked from the Confederation Practitioner Information Page

Referring

Referral decisions will depend on whether the patient has been seen for regular screening or is already under the HES. It will also depend on the time since the last screening or examination along with any history and symptoms. Again, please avoid referring patients unnecessarily to the hospital when they are already being seen or the retinopathy has already been identified. All referrals should be made using the Opera referral system.

Other Information

• GM Area Team

• Generic electronic referral forms

• NHS Mail contacts

• GOS matters

• Vouchers for 2nd pairs???

• GOS 4 for adults

• And other GM-wide issues

See the links below for more detail:

Click Here Practitioner General Information Page

Click Here GOS Information Page

Hydroxychloroquine-induced retinal toxicity screening service

Bolton NHS Locality have commissioned a “Hydroxychloroquine-induced retinal toxicity screening service” which is being provided by Bolton Eye unit. Therefore, should a patient who is taking either Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine medication state that they are not under the screening program, optometrists should tell the patient to speak to their prescribing clinician who will arrange the screening at the required time/interval.

Please note that due to local shared care protocols the prescribing clinician may be either the rheumatologist or the patient's GP. Patients should be aware who is issuing their prescriptions, and this is the person that they will need to contact.