Interview with Anne Gibson

Transforming service provision Helping the council and public bodies adapt to the new world order B ack in March, a health experiment was unveiled in Norfolk that Anne Gibson is particularly excited about. But it’s not a local authority initiative. Following a successful pilot, £2 million was put into a scheme to buddy people at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes with volunteers who already have the condition. The hope is that peer mentoring will help those at risk make the lifestyle changes that can stop them getting the disease. “Someone, somewhere was thinking: ‘How can we do something about diabetes, without simply focusing on clinical intervention? That’s a huge shift in mindset among the professionals, backed up by a management team that was smart enough to engage with it and free up some budget,” says Gibson. “If it works, it will save the health service millions.”