PCDS Newsletter: Fourth National Conference of the PCDS

Fourth National Conference of the PCDS
Another year over and a new one just begun… and PCDS continues to grow, with our members now numbering over 4500.

Another hugely successful conference was held in November entitled, Avoiding problems and pitfalls in primary care diabetes. The Friday morning session inspired people to think about the wider aspects of diabetes care – renal care, liver disease and mental illness.

The masterclasses that followed were hugely popular, resulting in one session being oversubscribed. The main hall will be used for masterclasses at the next conference to prevent that happening again! Dr Eugene Hughes had everyone talking after his thought-provoking keynote lecture “Why we fail”. The evaluations of the day were enthusiastic and excellent.

The Saturday programme got off to an early start and was well attended despite delegates throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the dinner and dancing the night before.

A link was formed between the session on prescribing pitfalls and the debate about the usefulness of NICE guidance, since NICE will publish an update on newer therapies in the spring. (If you weren’t there – the audience disagreed with the motion that new NICE type 2 diabetes guidelines do nothing to improve the care of people with diabetes.) The conference ended with “Hot topics – diabetes research update”, bringing everyone up-to-date with recent research and how it should be put into practice, and the AGM.

The atmosphere at the event was buzzing and we look forward to the next national conference in November 2009 (details can be found on page 9). Will you be there?

Through the generosity of delegates at the Fourth National Conference of the PCDS in November, £522.80 was raised for Children in Need.


PCDS committee meeting January 2009
The PCDS committee, with its new members, held its first 2009 meeting in January, with a very busy agenda. Prior to the meeting, Dr Rowan Hillson, National Clinical Director for Diabetes (England), joined us for an informal chat. There are many opportunities for working together, including an update of the practice-based commissioning toolkit for diabetes, professional competencies, and pregnancy and diabetes, and liaison is planned to continue. Dr Nigel Campbell was co-opted on to the Committee to strengthen representation in Ireland.

Due to some stunning timekeeping on behalf of the Chair, Martin Hadley-Brown, a complete programme for this year’s conference was also agreed. The title will be Diabetes – The Lifelong Journey and, due to the success of all of the previous national conferences, the venue will remain the same.

One of the things people attending PCDS conferences frequently comment on is the friendliness and camaraderie of attendees, and we intend to keep it that way. Watch this space… and if parking space is essential for you, a reduced parking rate will apply.

The Committee is also working on a variety of other educational initiatives:

• Continuing professional development (CPD) articles in this journal with certificates available online for successful participation (www.diabetesandprimarycare.co.uk/cpd).
• PCDS Ireland Conference, 24–25 April 2009, Dublin.
• PCDS/National Obesity Forum (NOF) Joint Conference, 25 June 2009, London.
• Intermediate Diabetes Care Teams Conference, 1 July 2009, Birmingham.
• PCDS Scottish Conference, 25 November 2009 (provisionally), Glasgow.
• For details of all PCDS events, visit www.sbcommunicationsgroup.com/events.