In the mid-1970s diabetes care and treatment were developing rapidly. Home blood glucose monitoring was first described in 1978 and diabetes specialist nurses were joining the workforce. John Day seized on these innovations as well as the work of diabetes specialist Michael Berger in Germany, who pioneered the concept of patient education.
Day, consultant diabetologist and physician at Ipswich Hospital, quickly realised that empowered patients, supported by multidisciplinary teams, could radically improve their own outcomes. He set up diabetes education study group workshops in Ipswich where specialists from all over the UK and Europe came to discuss new concepts such as patient empowerment and patient focused care. It is hard to overstate how radical these ideas were in the early 1980s and the first participants sometimes struggled to accept the terminology.
In the first few years, participants were mainly senior doctors and nurses, who acknowledged the important contribution such insights made in changing their attitudes and delivery of care. Over time, participants arrived with less experience, often still in training, and some from primary care.
Gerry Rayman, visiting professor at the University of East Anglia, said the workshops were challenging for consultants and diabetes specialist nurses. “But many of those who attended these workshops found them transforming and still …
