The discussions revealed illuminating insights into the increasing complexity of diabetes management, particularly around early-onset type 2 diabetes, emerging therapies and the need for enhanced multidisciplinary approaches. This piece explores the conversations covered and how these can be translated into actionable strategies for healthcare professionals navigating the changing diabetes care environment. 

Diabetes care in the UK continues to evolve rapidly, with several notable developments shaping clinical practice. As one advisory board member noted, particularly with type 2 diabetes, "diabetes care is becoming more complex, so we must work harder to keep the person with diabetes at the centre of this complexity."  

To reflect this complexity, the diabetes care team now encompasses a wider range of professionals. The expansion of roles implicated in diabetes care, both specialist and non-specialist, means that there is a greater need for more integrated services and seamless transitions between care settings to build tailored, multidisciplinary services around the individual. This is particularly true in light of the NHS Long Term Plan. 

The advisory board highlighted the alarming 40% rise in type 2 diabetes diagnoses in younger people between 2016-17 and 2022-23, which subsequently demands tailored approaches and earlier intervention. It should be noted too that children in the most deprived areas are more than five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those in the least deprived areas. It is also true that the impact of type 2 diabetes is felt disproportionately by people from Black and South Asian backgrounds. As a result, topics in the programme will explore how clinicians can contribute to deescalating the impact of health inequalities in diabetes care. 

As obesity is of one of the main modifiable risk factors of type 2 diabetes, weight management continues to dominate conversations around diabetes care. The advisory board explored the debates around opportunities for new medications like GLP-1 agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors which have transformed diabetes and obesity treatment. 

The expanding pharmacological landscape presents both opportunities and challenges, and careful medication management strategies will be required, as the advisory board warned. With NICE's recent guidance on tirzepatide, around 3.4 million people in England will be eligible for initial treatment in primary care and could take up around 18% of all GP appointments. This growing interest in and use of GLP-1 agonists means clinicians are seeking support on safe and appropriate prescribing. This includes considering when to commence or discontinue treatments based on stricter patient selection criteria, to ensure maximum benefit while minimising risk, alongside sufficient monitoring protocols for potential complications. However, above all, healthcare professionals are seeking to understand how to build cost-effective prescribing pathways of these treatments. 

As diabetes increasingly becomes recognised as part of a broader metabolic syndrome that implicates multiple long-term conditions, the cross-specialty coordination between cardiology, nephrology and diabetes care becomes essential. The advisory board explained that integrated care pathways need further development at an ICB level to ensure cohesive and effective diabetes and multiple long-term condition management, particularly across care settings. This is most evident in medication reviews taking place in primary care, which must balance competing priorities across multiple conditions.  

The advisory board highlighted how primary care professionals consistently report challenges in delivering comprehensive diabetes care within constrained appointment slots. As “time is [our] biggest enemy”, the advisory board were interested in best practice to maximise this finite time through pre-appointment preparation strategies to enhance efficiency, or the delegation of appropriate elements or tasks to different team members. 

As part of the wider ten-year health plan and the three shifts announced in the Darzi report, interest in diabetes prevention and possible remission is seen through the lens of care closer to home and the move from treatment to prevention. Within diabetes care, this is a pivot towards early intervention strategies for high-risk populations, and structured education approaches to achieve and maintain diabetes remission alongside population-level prevention initiatives that can be implemented across care settings. This is of particular significance to commissioners, who can capitalise on understanding their population’s health and its risk factors to deliver tailored services and resources.  

As part of this preventative piece, the advisory board noted the significant focus on comprehensive lifestyle interventions, including integration of dietetics and social prescribing into standard care pathways and behaviour change techniques that enhance self-management of diabetes to produce measurable outcomes. These holistic factors were of particular interest as a practical takeaway for primary care as an example of measurable, actionable strategies that get results.  

The advisory board discussed a growing engagement in individualised approaches to diabetes care. Predictive models are being developed that help guide therapeutic decisions, including genetic and biomarker-based treatment selections. By harnessing more personalised risk stratification and prediction, interventions and treatments could be tailored to mitigate reactions or complications of the condition.  

As the advisory board reinforced, the strength of DPC’s content lies in its practical application. The programme for 2025 will continue to focus on actionable takeaways with specific, implementable strategies rather than theoretical frameworks alone. As clinicians need clear pathways to translate research and theoretical developments into daily practice, the case-based learnings at DPC will explore complex challenges through collaborative problem-solving approaches that are “immediately practically applicable.” 

As we prepare for our 2025 event, we invite you to share your expertise by submitting your own practice-based insights or case studies for inclusion in future newsletters. We also encourage you to identify knowledge gaps by telling us which emerging topics would be relevant to include in the programme for this year. Alternatively, if you are interested in joining our advisory board, or if you would like to contribute to the programme this year, please get in touch with me directly.