In addition to his work as a lecturer in medicine, diabetes and endocrinology at the University of Birmingham, Shahrad Taheri is also a consultant physician at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust where he is lead for weight management. He has another lead role within the Birmingham and Black Country NIHR CLAHRC (implementation of effective community care for diabetes).

Shahrad qualified in medicine from Barts, London University. He trained in diabetes and endocrinology at Barts, at Hammersmith Hospital, and at Bristol Royal Infirmary. He obtained his PhD as a Wellcome Trust research fellow in neuroendocrinology at Imperial College, London, where his research focused on the hypothalamic function. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Stanford University. He returned to the UK in 2003 as a Lecturer at Bristol University.

Shahrad is passionate about the care of patients with obesity and diabetes. He has several national and international awards for his research and is a reviewer for several journals and funding bodies. His research ranges from basic laboratory to population research and service delivery reorganisation.


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Simon O'Neill qualified from St Thomas' Hospital, London as a registered nurse in 1989 and specialised in paediatrics at Guy's Hospital in 1991. Following several years working in both general and renal paediatrics, he moved to Diabetes UK in 1995 as a nurse care adviser.

18 years later he is still there, although now as Director of Health Intelligence and Professional Liaison. As Director he is responsible for ensuring Diabetes UK produces accurate and up-to-date information and advice on all aspects of diabetes care, based on the latest evidence. Working closely with healthcare professional colleagues, he also advises on the charity's policies and positions. He has had Type 1 diabetes for 21 years.

Presentation: Meeting the challenge

The personal and economic costs of diabetes are huge and rising. Diabetes currently accounts for 10% of NHS spend and is the biggest single cause of amputation, stroke, blindness and kidney failure.
What is our way out of this state of crisis? What can all stakeholders from key policymakers to frontline health workers do to meet the challenge that diabetes presents to both the nation and the lives of individuals?

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At NICE's Centre of Public Health Excellence, Mike Kelly leads on the development of public health guidance. He is a public health practitioner, researcher and academic. Before joining NICE he was Director of Evidence and Guidance at the Health Development Agency.

Mike's research interests are in evidence-based approaches to health improvement, methodological problems in public health research, evidence synthesis, behaviour change, coronary heart disease prevention, chronic illness, disability, physical activity, health inequalities, social identity and community involvement in health promotion. From 2005 to 2008 he was the co-leader of the Measurement and Evidence Knowledge Network of World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.

Mike has published more than 200 papers in medical, social scientific and public health journals and is author/editor of seven books. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 2010 he was awarded the Alwyn Smith Prize of the Faculty of Public Health for his work on cardiovascular disease and alcohol misuse prevention.

Presentation: Prevention (Type 2) and early identification (Types 1 and 2)

Roughly seven million people in the UK are at risk of developing diabetes. Every three minutes, one of them is diagnosed. However, intervention is not always prompt, and many people receive treatment only after presenting with serious associated conditions.
How can we best engage with the public to reduce the numbers of people 'at risk', to regularly and effectively check their health, to empower them to make informed decisions about their lifestyles, and to intervene appropriately and promptly at the earliest sign of problems? How can we ensure that those living with diabetes are given every chance to reach their potential to lead happy, healthy and active lives?

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Qualified St Bartholomew's Hospital 1983, followed by vocational training in general practice in Redhill, Dr Farrell has worked for 25 years as a full-time GP in Willington, South Derbyshire. He obtained an MSc in evidence-based health care in 2001 at Oxford and following this became a teaching fellow at the University Nottingham medical School and its graduate entry branch in Derby. During the 1990s, he was involved with fundholding contracting negotiations in Derby. Having had a strong and long term interest in diabetes, he was invited to join the existing integrated care team at First Diabetes at the end of 2011 where is researching the hard to reach group who decline referral from practices. First Diabetes won two awards for its cross boundary and community approach to diabetes care in 2012.

Presentation: First Diabetes programme

The award-winning First Diabetes programme is a unique partnership between primary and secondary care for the delivery of comprehensive, integrated, patient-centred care for 2,500 patients with diabetes in Derby.

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In 1997 Adrian Sanders was elected Member of Parliament for Torbay in the closest of contests with a majority of just 12 over the Conservatives. He successfully stood again in the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general elections and now has a majority of over 4,000.

Amongst other things Adrian has always campaigned strongly for issues surrounding diabetes and animal welfare. He has held a number of posts and spokespersonships within the Parliamentary Party and is currently a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes.

Adrian splits his week between Westminster and his home in Paignton which he shares with his wife Alison.


Presentation: The urgent need for a national implementation plan

Though it has been over a decade since the Department of Health published the National Service Framework for Diabetes, Diabetes UK's State of the Nation 2012 report that shows the number of people who actually receive all nine of their recommended annual checks varies widely between 6% and 69%.
With an early day motion for a national implementation plan for diabetes requested last year, what is the vision and strategy for this new framework? How can we learn from failures in the uptake of the last framework to truly translate policy into a fairer deal for people with diabetes?

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Moira Harrison is a principal lecturer in diabetes and a research scientist at the University of Brighton. Her research interests include: cardiac stent restenosis in diabetes, positive psychology and diabetes, beta-cell specific effects of antipsychotic agents, the development of clinically-reflective in vitro islet models and advances in diabetes management technologies.

Moira is a patient advocate, supporting and educating anyone involved in diabetes care. She has had Type 1 diabetes for 28 years and has a medical detection hypo alert dog, Treacle.

Presentation: The importance of technologies for improving control and reducing complications

Plus special guest Treacle, the hypo-detecting dog
Advances in the quality and efficacy of blood glucose monitoring technologies in recent years have drastically improved the quality of life of millions of people with diabetes, increasing their control over their condition and reducing the risk of complications such as hypoglycaemia.
This talk will explore the future of diabetes technologies – including some unconventional but effective options.


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Philipa Bragman has worked and campaigned in the women's sector on domestic abuse issues and was part of a group of mainly disabled women who secured funding, designed and set up the first refuge for women with learning disabilities in the UK. 20 years ago Philipa set up CHANGE, a leading UK-based human rights organisation led by disabled people. CHANGE employs people with learning disabilities to lead on our work.

CHANGE has been instrumental in creating easy read information to address health inequalities and leading the way in introducing accessible information across the UK and globally. The Words to Pictures Team, which is made up of experienced people with learning disabilities, works with the team of illustrators and designers to create thousands of images and easy read resources.
CHANGE recently won the British Medical Association Patient Information of the Year Award for their easy read resources on Cancer and End of Life Care.

Philipa is passionate about social justice, and working to create more inclusive empowering communities globally.



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Rob has long and wide experience of managing community development and engagement work across the public sector and in the Voluntary and Community Sector, with staff, patients, stakeholders and the public. In three years working for the NHS he has gained experience of designing and delivering engagement plans to meet strategic needs, and to inform major service change programmes. He currently works for West and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Unit, providing patient and public engagement support to clinical commissioning groups. In 2012 a three year community development diabetes project managed by Rob won a Quality in Care Diabetes award in the category 'addressing unacceptable variations'. The project addressed prevention, early identification and improved self management in high risk communities. Part of this project involved working with patients in 5 selected practices and a measurable impact was made on DNAs and reducing HbA1c.


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