About GPSI Diabetes

Dr Janet Titchener introduced New Zealand to a cutting edge approach to diabetes management when she opened GPSI Diabetes in Hawke's Bay. That was over 10 years ago. Today, this cutting edge approach is known as patient-centered care and  acknowledged by expert as an essential component to diabetes care if good clinical outcomes are to be achieved. GPSI Diabetes is the only provider in New Zealand to provide a truly patient centered approach to diabetes care and not surprisingly, is now providing care to people all over New Zealand as well as overseas.

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At the time a person is diagnosed with diabetes, they are generally given a set of instructions which they are expected to follow - for example "you need to lose some weight", "you should take insulin", "you must eat a more healthy diet, exercise more"  and/or "you need to take these pills". In other words they are expecting a person to change their lifestyle and life choices so that they fit into a prescribed diabetes management regime.

 

At GPSI Diabetes we do not do this. We recognise that each person is a unique individual with their own set of beliefs and priorities about their life, and that management success will not occur if treatments being selected do not suit the patient’s unique life situations and/or cultural and personal beliefs. There are many different ways to manage diabetes and we believe that if you are provided with information about all of these choices, then you will be able to determine which management option is going to suit you and your life the best. In other words, it is quite possible for you to fit your diabetes into your life as opposed to fitting your life into diabetes.

 

GPSI Diabetes is also unique in that it provides care for all types of diabetes and for all ages - paediatrics to adulthood. Trained as a Primary Care Physician, Board Certified in Advanced Diabetes Management (AADE) and with a Masters in Psychology, Dr Janet provides specialist diabetes care against a background holistic approach. Her philosophy is to "do myself out of business" by empowering each individual with the knowledge to independently self-manage their own diabetes.

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With rooms in Havelock North (Hawkes Bay) and Auckland, our friendly professional team aims to provide you with information to understand your particular type of diabetes and involve you in the medical decision-making

 

GPSI Diabetes believes empowering patients will change health care systems around the world - and that this can only be achieved by using a patient centered approach. Click HERE to find out more about patient centered care and what receiving this care would mean for you.

Our team

Dr Janet Titchener - Clinical Director 

MD, MA, BC-ADM (AADE), AAFP, RNZCGP

I have been the Clinical Director at GPSI Diabetes for over 10 years and have close to 20 years experience in diabetes management.

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I completed my medical training at one of America's top institutions (University of Pennsylvania/Lancaster General). It was during my training as a Family Physician  that I developed my interest in diabetes - and developed the patient centered approach to diabetes management that is used at GPSI Diabetes today. After completing a Fellowship and board certificatioin, I joined the faculty at Lancaster General to teach general medicine and diabetes management both within the hospital setting and the community. 

 

In New Zealand, I continue to teach other providers, regularly giving training courses for registrars, GPs and nurses. 

 

I am  is actively involved in research, with a number of publications, including Diabetes a manual for providers delivering patient centred care to people with diabetes.

Sally Gardner - Front desk staff

I have been the front desk receptionist at GPSI Diabetes since 2013. I love this job as it allows me to incorporate all of the work ethics and skills I have developed throughout my many years of working in the health sector, in customer service and in office administration – and it allows me to just be me.

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I enjoy getting to know all of our clients whether it be through phone calls or from conversations in the waiting room; and I take great pleasure in arranging appointments to your satisfaction, find the missing script or sorting whatever the issue at hand might be.

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I love hearing feedback from clients – especially after their first appointment “if only I had known that before” or “I wish I had had this information provided to me years ago”. I often hear lots of laughter coming from behind the closed clinic door which says a lot about the connection Dr Janet has with our clients.

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I fully embrace the patient centered philosophy of GPSI Diabetes and find it so rewarding to see all the positive changes in our clients from one appointment to the next. So pick up the phone and give me a call. I would be happy to book an appointment or answer any questions you may have.