Patients views on a new surveillance pathway involving allied non-medical staff for people with treated diabetic macular oedema and proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

For patients, the clinical service should not only include the identification and treatment of disease but also exchange of information, reassurance, and mitigation of anxiety. Alterations in the standard care pathway need to take account of such concerns and their implications, in addition to any assessments of 'efficiency' that may flow from changes in diagnostic technology, or the division of professional labour.