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28/07/2020 | 5 minutes

We are all patients…..

I have often thought that the term ‘patient’ can be unhelpful in today’s health service because the word patient describes a person who is poorly or unwell and is the passive recipient of medical treatment.

Ruth Miller
Diabetes Nurse Consultant for the North West London Diabetes Transformation programme

27/08/2020 | 3 minutes

Developments in Technology

When I was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes in 1974, I was given a glass reusable insulin syringe, which I kept in a tray of methylated spirits, and a bottle of urine test strips. The biggest life changer for me was when I started self-funding the Freestyle Libre flash glucose monitoring (FGM) system a couple of years ago. What a distance we have come from that glass syringe and a single type of insulin.

Peter Gilbert
A patient who has had diabetes for 47 years.

28/07/2020 | 5 minutes

Where do I go to get information and education for type 1 diabetes?

When I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1974, I joined the “British Diabetic Association” (now known as Diabetes UK). I fumbled along for thirty years until 2004 when I decided to take the five-day DAFNE (Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating) group education course at Central Middlesex Hospital, with seven other people with type 1 diabetes and it changed my life!

Peter Gilbert
A patient who has had diabetes for 47 years.