Diabetic eye screening: invitation and result letter templates

Invitation letters for diabetic eye screening

These publications are template invitation letters for local NHS Diabetic Eye Screening (DES) programme providers.

Local programmes should:

  • add information to these templates to include specific local processes and circumstances if required
  • enclose the COVID-19 printable guidance with screening invitation letters

An easy read invitation letter template is available to send to people who need information in this format, including those with learning disabilities.

Results letters for diabetic eye screening

Local DES programmes must use the template result letters to communicate with patients.

The GP letter template is suitable for use with all possible screening results.

Non diabetic retinopathy (DR) lesions

Arrangements for referrals for non DR lesions vary between programmes.

It is not appropriate to produce standard letter wording for non DR results.

When writing to patients with non DR lesions, programmes should add appropriate local wording to the relevant result letter template.

The GP result letter template includes a section for non DR lesions.



Start date announced for extended court hours pilots

Photograph of empty courtroom
  • Flexible Operating Hours pilots to begin on 2 September 2019
  • Pilots will run for six months in Manchester and Brentford
  • Independent evaluation will be carried out before any future decisions are made

The pilots, beginning on Monday 2 September 2019, will test whether civil and family buildings can be used more effectively. By piloting the use of court hearing rooms outside the traditional hours of 10am to 4pm, HMCTS will test whether this offers better access to justice for people before or after their working day and improves the efficient use of buildings.

The pilots will run for 6 months and consist of late sittings (4:30pm to 7pm) involving both civil and family work at Manchester Civil Justice Centre and early (8am to 10:30am) and late sittings involving civil work only at the County Court at Brentford.

HMCTS announced its plans to test early and late sittings in November last year, to give people greater access to hearings that can fit around their busy lives.

Any decisions about using Flexible Operating Hours in the future will only be made following robust assessment of evidence and data gathered through these pilots and a comprehensive, independent evaluation of the impacts, costs and benefits across the justice system.

For more information, see the Flexible Operating Hours pilots prospectus. and the evaluation plan summary

Published 21 June 2019
Last updated 31 July 2019 + show all updates

  1. Added link to directions for each site.
  2. Link to evaluation plan summary added.
  3. First published.


Webinar recording July 2019: an update from Christine Tacon

Following the success of her first webinar for suppliers back in April, on Wednesday (3 July) Christine delivered a 30 minute summary of her main messages from the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) 2019 conference and took questions from participants.

A recording of the webinar is now available:

3 July 2019 Webinar: An update from Christine Tacon.

Register online to be notified of future webinars.

If you have any feedback on the webinar, please contact the GCA at enquiries@groceriescode.gov.uk.



Transparency data: Defra: senior officials’ business expenses and hospitality, January to March 2019

Data on senior officials’ business expenses and hospitality, and the permanent secretary’s meetings with external organisations.



Transparency data: Defra: ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, January to March 2019

Data on gifts that ministers gave and received, their external meetings and any overseas travel.