More than 137,000 people have now signed up to KeepSight, Australia’s national eye screening initiative for Australians living with diabetes.
The program aims to ensure all people with diabetes access the clinically recommended diabetes eye checks and provides an opportunity to dramatically reduce rates of diabetes-related vision loss and blindness in Australia by facilitating early detection and treatment of diabetes related eye problems.
Of those 130,000 more than 26,000 have received a reminder.
Diabetes Australia Policy and Programs Director Taryn Black said the steady increase in the number of people signing up for reminders was encouraging but there was still a way to go to ‘shift the dial’ in terms of ensuring every Australian with diabetes is having regular checks
“There are 1.4 million people registered on the NDSS and around 1.7 Australians with diabetes, so it’s critical we continue to work with the eye sector to ensure people are having eye checks within the recommended timeframe.
“Quite simply, regular checks and early detection saves sight.
“We urge all eye care providers to register with the program then register their patients with diabetes for a KeepSight reminder. They will receive the reminder in addition to any practice reminders and we know that people with diabetes appreciate the follow up.
“There’s a lot to remember when you have diabetes, sometimes up to 180 decisions a day, so a prompt to schedule an eye check appointment at the right time can be the difference between picking up an issue early, or having a serious complication to deal with.
“Nearly all diabetes related vision loss can be prevented with regular checks,” Ms Black said.