Escalating numbers of people with diabetes, the availability of more drugs to treat them, new and possibly confusing trial evidence, and greater pressures on primary care professionals - not just political and clinical but also personal, in the form of revalidation. These are just some of the reasons why the 6th National Conference of the Primary Care Diabetes Society (PCDS) will focus on the need for primary care teams to live up to the tasks they face in the new decade. As well as satisfying QOF indicators and enhancing the lives of our patients, there are new challenges in the form of possible changes in the diagnostic criteria for diabetes, new and renewed guidelines on what to prescribe at different stanges, and the increased demands of demonstrating our own credentials as practitioners. Above all, there is a greater focus than ever before on the need to deliver care of the highest quality. This conference will help you to achieve this - and through the use of the takeaway tools available at the event, you will be able to demonstrate this in your personal development portfolios.

Martin Hadley-Brown, Chair of the PCDS and GP, Thetford