Novo Nordisk Patient Reference Group

Today I was fortunate enough to be invited to travel to London, for the very first Novo Nordisk patient reference group meeting. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with other people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, to discuss our involvement in a future potential project to help people with the condition.

It was lovely to see some familiar faces, and to meet some new ones at the event. It was also a great opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with other people with the condition. It once again reminded me how similar people with type 1 and type 2 are, in that we're both living with diabetes albeit in different forms. Illustrating the importance of working together to achieve the best outcomes.

The key non-clinical themes concerning issues facing people with diabetes that were raised from the patients' perspective in the meeting, were concepts such as the need, but lack of provision of psycho-social care and support. The influence of the diabetes online community as a network by which to connect and communicate. And additionally, that the media plays a heavily influential role on the perception of diabetes be it positive or negative.

Myself and fellow blogger Jen Grieves

The meeting was very productive and a pleasure to attend, I look forward to getting started on future projects to help people with diabetes in the future.