Training

City & Guilds Qualifications

All screening staff must be properly trained and accredited. This ensures that people with diabetes are confident the screening workforce:

• Is properly trained and up to date with their training 
• Provides high quality care underpinned by clinical and service protocols and audit
• Has the interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with them

Since September 2006, the national screening programme has used an accreditation package offered in conjunction with City and Guilds. The award is a Level 3 Qualification in Diabetic Retinopathy Screening that consists of the following nine learning units:

1. National Screening Programme, processes and protocols
2. Diabetes and its relevance to retinal screening
3. Anatomy, physiology and pathology of the eye and its clinical relevance
4. Preparing the patient for retinal screening
5. Measuring visual acuity and pharmacological dilatation
6. Imaging the eye
7. Detecting retinal disease
8. Classifying diabetic retinopathy
9. Administration and management systems

The nine units provide for a wide range of job roles. Five discrete qualifications (two Diplomas and three certificates) have been created, incorporating a mandatory minimum combination of units for each qualification/job role.

Certificates of unit credit are issued to learners who are successful in one or more units, but who do not wish to complete the full qualification.

More information on Level 3 Qualifications in Diabetic Retinopathy Screening (7360), including the City and Guilds handbook, can be found on the City and Guilds website.

For more information visit the DRS Diploma website or email the DRS Qualifications Office at drsadministrator@glos.nhs.uk.

The Level 3 Qualifications in Diabetic Retinopathy Screening aim to ensure that the screening workforce meets the competencies in the national occupational standards. See the Competence Framework page for more details.