Written question asked by Richard Bacon (Conservative) on Thursday, 17 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 21 November 2005. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Friday, 2 December 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Blindness

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Department is taking to facilitate the use by opticians of cameras which photograph the back of the eye; and if she will make a statement about diabetes retinopathy screening.

Answer: Primary care trusts are responsible for implementing diabetic retinopathy screening to national standards as set out in ““Improvement, Expansion and Reform: the next three years””, the planning and performance framework for 2003 to 2006 and diabetes national service framework delivery strategy. It is for local health services to decide how they want the programme to be delivered locally. Optometrists have played an important role on the national diabetic retinopathy screening project advisory group set up to steer the development of the programme.

Secondary information