Interact: Claire’s story

Claire arranged to take her friends on a day out. They had a brilliant day planned in a nearby town with great shops. Claire managed the drive there with no problems, and the roads were quiet, so she felt confident and happy with how well she drove. They got lots of shopping done, and stopped at a café for lunch. Claire took her normal dose of fast-acting insulin before eating. When they decided to head home, Claire felt a bit unwell. She checked her blood glucose and saw it was 3.2mmmol/L. One of her friends was in a rush to get home to see her boyfriend however so Claire took three dextrosol tablets and waited 15 minutes until she felt better before driving back.

What did Claire do right?

Two years later, Claire moved in with her boyfriend. She couldn’t afford to buy and run a car, so she didn’t really drive very much. The pair decided to go on holiday and travel around Scotland by car. Claire’s boyfriend can drive too, so they planned to split the driving. Claire planned to pay for the car hire upfront, so it made sense to hire the car in her name only. When she went to pick up the car, however, she was refused – her licence had expired. Now they had to change their plans, as there was too much driving for her boyfriend to do himself and Claire could no longer legally drive.

How could Claire have prevented this?