# My thoughts on the Diabetes UK Professional Conference Insider event



## Stitch147 (Mar 18, 2018)

Yesterday I went along to the first ever diabetes UK professional conference insider event. The professional conference happens each year but this is the first time highlights from the conference have been delivered to people living with diabetes. It was about research and what's going on. It was quite a good day. Apologies in advance for the length of this post!

After arriving and registering got a goodie bag from diabetes UK and got a chance to have a look at the few stands that were there. 

*Welcome address - *given by Chris Askew (chief exec of diabetes UK)
Welcoming everyone to the event and gave us a breakdown of what the day was going to be like.

*Banting memorial lecture: Diagnosis Matters - *Professor Andrew Hattersley (university of Exeter)
I thought this was a very useful talk about getting the correct diagnosis and being on the right course of treatment. I spoke to him at the end about my gp suspecting that I may be MODY. He explained that the genetic testing was very expensive and that's why it can be difficult to diagnose MODY. I explained my story on how I was diagnosed, family history and treatment and he said that it is very likely that I am MODY!

We then had a tea break before going into separate talks. There were 3 geared towards type 1 and 3 geared towards type 2. I went to the 3 for type 2's.

*Will resistant starch change the way we think about carbs? -*Dr Denise Robertson
Useful talk for someone like me who doesn't do very low carb. It was explaining about a study done into carbs and the best way to prepare them and the impact these have on BG levels. Picked up a few useful tips about carbs. Some stuff I knew already but other bits were useful. Mash potato isn't the devil after all!

*The DiRECT route to type 2 diabetes remission - *Professor Roy Taylor
This was an in depth look into the weight loss program trial that was done including a low calorie diet. More details on DiRECT study can be found on the diabetes UK website.
My thoughts - Although this study may work in the short term I do wonder about the long term effects on people. 
Not for me.

*Psychological support and type 2 diabetes - *Dr Kirsty Winkley
Report into clinical trials about whether better and ongoing psychological support will help type 2 achieve better BG control. 
Quite useful talk in places and I do think this sort of thing can definitely work for some people. Some people don't like talking about things though, especially with medical professionals. But I can see how it would help some.

Time for lunch - nice selection of salad or sandwich, fruit or popcorn, cereal bar or mixed nuts and a drink. All provided for us. Was a nice lunch. 

The afternoon session then started with everyone back together in one room.

*Diabetes stigma and the use of language - *Bob Swindell
Diagnosed with type 2 Bob spoke about stigma surrounding living with diabetes and how using language can influence people including the healthcare professionals. He also spoke about the benefits of parkrun and he is a parkrun outreach ambassador for diabetes. Great talk.

*Social media and peer support - *Dr Partha Kar and the Grumpy Pumper
The first part of this talk was given by The Grumpy pumper, this definitely got people laughing. I've read his blog in the past and he is very honest about living with type 1. The second speaker was Dr Partha Kar, I wish he was my Dr!
A great talk about how using social media, forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, can be a great and positive thing for people living with diabetes. As they allow people to learn from others. This was probably one of the best talks of the day. 

*Tomorrow's world panel discussion: what's the biggest opportunity and challenge around diabetes research in the next 10 years? *Chair - Alex Riston, BBC presenter who had a hypo live on air. 
This was a panel discussion given by some of the professionals who gave talks during the day. Gave people the chance to ask questions about the future research that may be going on. I can't really remember many of the questions though. 

*Closing address - *Bob Swindell
Thanking us all and closing out the day.

Overall I thought it was a good day. If you get the chance to go to one of these days in the future, go. Next years professional conference is in Liverpool, so hopefully they'll do another one of these for people living with diabetes.


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## grovesy (Mar 18, 2018)

Thanks for the report.
I too agree with you about the Direct Study and the talking.


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## Matt Cycle (Mar 18, 2018)

Sounds like it was a worthwhile day. 



Stitch147 said:


> what's the biggest opportunity and challenge around diabetes research in the next 10 years?



The cure!


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## Jade (Mar 18, 2018)

Thanks for giving so much feedback about event. I really enjoyed the afternoon sessions especially listening to Bob Swindell and Partha Kar.
Good to meet you too!


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## Flower (Mar 18, 2018)

Sounds an interesting day. I just had a look at a clip on Dr Partha Kar's twitter and there were a lot of people attending, couldn't quite pick you out in the queue Stitch!


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## Stitch147 (Mar 18, 2018)

Jade said:


> Thanks for giving so much feedback about event. I really enjoyed the afternoon sessions especially listening to Bob Swindell and Partha Kar.
> Good to meet you too!


Was good to meet you too Jade.


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## Stitch147 (Mar 18, 2018)

Flower said:


> Sounds an interesting day. I just had a look at a clip on Dr Partha Kar's twitter and there were a lot of people attending, couldn't quite pick you out in the queue Stitch!


I was right at the back of the room Flower.


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## heasandford (Mar 22, 2018)

I'm sorry the sessions ran over time, I would have liked to hear more questions from the audience. A professional conference usually has better time control. Also i would have liked more time for talking to more people! 

I nearly missed lunch because I was late after talking - only tuna & sweetcorn sandwich left - except they had a vegan salad, which was delicious, well done!

Will they be issuing transcripts or something from the lectures, I'd like to hear/read some of it again? 
I did enjoy it, we were treated very well and like intelligent people, it was assumed we would understand rather than being talked down to which slightly worried me beforehand.


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## SB2015 (Mar 22, 2018)

Thanks for the feedback on this Stitch.  I am glad that there was good attendance.
Such a good idea, giving us the opportunity to hear about the latest research.
I hope that I will be able to make it next time


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## bamba (Mar 22, 2018)

I think there might have been better organisation with respect to the parrallel sessions.
ie Better timed / synchronised to allow people to move between them.

Lunch was a low point, as someone on a low carb diet - there was nothing safe to eat.
( the closest possible prospect was a perfectly good salad which had been adulterated with some grain product. )


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## Diabetes UK (Mar 22, 2018)

Thanks @Stitch147 for such a fantastic summary, glad that you enjoyed the talks, some of them sounded very interesting, especially the Social Media and Peer Support talk 
I managed to catch some of the Banting Memorial, which I found exceptionally fascinating! Glad you enjoyed the day.


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## Diabetes UK (Mar 22, 2018)

@bamba and @heasandford, thanks for your comments! I will find out about transcripts and pass on your feedback to the events team


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## bamba (Mar 23, 2018)

Sorry I may have been a bit negative above - but one of the highlights for me was to be able to personally speak to Prof. Taylor from Newcastle and ask for his definition of remission of Diabetes.
Apparentently this is non diabetic HbA1c / Fasting Blood Glucose values ( ie not accounting for 2 hour post prandial diffference ) 
The recently published DUK Nutritional Guidelines - https://diabetes-resources-producti...es-s3/2018-03/1373_Nutrition guidelines_0.pdf  (PDF )
only considers HbA1c.


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## Diabetes UK (Mar 23, 2018)

Not at all Bamba! And great that you spoke with Prof. Taylor


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## trophywench (Mar 23, 2018)

I went to one 10 years ago and none of the food had carb counts on it, neither was there an available list, hence I couldn't try a wrap or anything like different and just had to have a boring old sandwich.

Clearly 'lessons haven't been learned' the excuse always given is that DUK don't do the catering.  Well no absolutely they don't of course not - but it's their event and they need to cater properly for their audience, who they know are the folk who have the tickets well before the day itself.


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## Stitch147 (Mar 24, 2018)

trophywench said:


> I went to one 10 years ago and none of the food had carb counts on it, neither was there an available list, hence I couldn't try a wrap or anything like different and just had to have a boring old sandwich.
> 
> Clearly 'lessons haven't been learned' the excuse always given is that DUK don't do the catering.  Well no absolutely they don't of course not - but it's their event and they need to cater properly for their audience, who they know are the folk who have the tickets well before the day itself.


All the food was clearly labeled with carb content. The sandwich I had was about 37g of carbs. I know great if you do low carb but was perfect for me. I didn't look at the salad as it contained fish and Im not keen on fish.


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## trophywench (Mar 24, 2018)

Well lessons have been learned then Stitch!  Good!


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## Diabetes UK (Mar 29, 2018)

heasandford said:


> Will they be issuing transcripts or something from the lectures, I'd like to hear/read some of it again?
> .


Sorry for my delay - you will be receiving session slides by email.


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## trophywench (Mar 29, 2018)

Are they going on the DUK website too @Hannah DUK ?


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