“After bouncing off stage I let out a huge sigh of
relief. I looked around and saw faces staring at me, smiling at me, nodding and
clapping... It was a very surreal moment, but one that will stay in my mind
forever.”
I wrote this last year after
delivering a presentation at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference about the
Diabetes Online Community. I was able to provide an insight into what online
support has to offer patients, their families and carers, and touching on how
Health Care Professionals (HCPs) could introduce it to their patients. The
audience was comprised mostly of HCPs, which gave me perhaps the biggest
opportunity I’ve had to get my message across to those who can reach wide groups
of patients. Social media may not be the biggest player when it comes to
improving diabetes care, but you can’t deny that it has become a key influence
for thousands of patients in the UK, if you want to find out for yourself then
go online and listen to what they’re saying.
Tomorrow I will be heading
off to London, once again, for the Diabetes UK Professional Conference, this
year titled ‘Time to Take Control’...