Does an intensive residential course on diabetes for general practitioners improve the care of diabetes in the practice?

We describe a two and a half day residential course on diabetes mellitus for general practitioners in terms of organisation, cost and educational assessment. Standards of diabetic care in general practice have been shown to vary widely but there has been little evaluation of the postgraduate education required for good continuing care.

The course concentrated on the use of small group tutorials with experienced general practitioner tutors working in tandem with hospital physicians specialising in diabetes. The course proved to be useful, relevant and enjoyable. The costs, both in financial terms and tutor time and commitment hold implications for continuing education in general practice under the 1990 Contract. The follow‐up study of the candidates one year later showed that they had increased their knowledge and confidence in dealing with diabetes, and improved the organisation of structured care for diabetic patients in their practices.