Background Diabetes is a chronic multi-system disease that needs specialised annual review that is thorough, efficient and beneficial to the patient's needs. The diabetes review clinic in the UK has varying formats and contents. In the main, the goal should be to review the patient holistically as diabetes can affect every body system. By assessing the patient's glycaemic control and screening for potential complications we run the best chance of limiting the severity of disease progression. There are many differing opinions as to how best it should be performed. Recent research has shown that Diabetologists may be failing their patients in that they are not adequately screening or assessing for diabetic complications, such as erectile dysfunction, as suggested by the national institute for health and clinical excellence (NICE) guidelines. Conclusions We propose a basic summary of the essential areas which must be included in a diabetes review. However, we understand that this may prove unwieldy and logistically difficult in a busy clinic/practice setting.