By chance and good fortune I took on a single session as a clinical assistant in the diabetes clinic at the General Hospital, Birmingham and the enthusiasm of the local clinicians inspired me to specialise in diabetes. I became a consultant physician in Northampton in 1995. During my time there I expanded the service by introduction of a number of specialist clinics and in 2002 Northampton was one of the first roll out centres to offer DAFNE. I have retired from the hospital service and now have a community role, supporting the community diabetes MDT. I was a member of the writing group for a number of JBDS guidelines and was involved in the early development of the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit (NaDIA); I remain on the NaDIA steering committee. I am a member of the group working with Diabetes UK on their ‘Making Hospitals Safe for People with Diabetes’ campaign, which aims to raise standards of care and improve safety for inpatients with diabetes. I have a passionate interest in ensuring that people with type 1 diabetes have access to the specialist care they require. I am a facilitator and joint organiser of the Knuston Hall Diabetes Counselling and Empowerment course which was founded by Charles Fox more than 30 years ago. This course introduces the patient empowerment approach to health care professionals and helps them move from ’fixing’ the problem to supporting people to find their own solutions. Participants are overwhelmingly positive about the way the course influences their practice. The Knuston faculty is now grappling with the challenge of designing a Virtual Knuston to comply with the Covid restrictions .