The incidence and prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing across the world and poor control is associated with both micro vascular and macro vascular complications, costing health economies a significant proportion of the health budget. It is now well recognized that good glycemic control early in the disease can reduce the complications, leading to better outcomes and reduced cost. However, a large proportion of patients continue to have suboptimal control of diabetes. Being a long term condition, self-care plays an important role where patients need to be trained, educated and empowered to look after their disease. However, there are some real barriers in achieving good control, hypoglycemia being one of the biggest barriers along with lack of adherence to healthy lifestyle and medication. With increasing incidence and prevalence, there is clear need for help from allied health professionals to educate and empower patients to better manage their diabetes.