Part 1 The new patient: the new patient - assessment and investigation, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; starting treatment in the new patient with insulin-dependent diabetes, Edwin Gale and Robert Tattersall; choosing an insulin regimen, Edwin Gale and Robert Tattersall; managing the newly diagnosed maturity-onset patient - the first year, David Hadden; does diabetic control matter?, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; measuring control, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; what diabetes means to the patient, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale. Part 2 Resources: planning a diabetes service - needs and resources, Edwin Gale and Robert Tattersall; organising a hospital clinic and diabetic records, Bill Burr; shared care, John Yudkin and Brian Hurwitz; the diabetes specialist nurse, Charles Fox and Heather Daly. Part 3 Special patients: children and adolescents, Steven Greene; pregnancy and genetic counselling, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; the elderly, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; immigrants, Edwin Gale and Robert Tattersall; the obese, Edwin Gale and Robert Tattersall; the unitelligent, non-compliant and self-destructive, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale. Part 4 Special situations: intensified insulin therapy and pumps, Graham Knight; ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar coma, Timothy Doran; hypoglycaemia, Edwin Gale and Robert Tattersall; medico-legal, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; insulin resistance, Philip Home and Roy Taylor; surgery, steroid treatment and total pancreatectomy, Philip Home and Geoffrey Gill. Part 5 Complications: the eyes, Timothy Doran and Steve Vernon; the kidney, Jeremy Bending; the feet, Andrew Boulton; automatic neuropathy, Ian Campbell; large vessel disease, Paul Drury; lipids, John Betteridge; endocrine disease, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale; skin, Robert Tattersall; infections, Robert Tattersall and Edwin Gale.