The performance of health delivery for chronic diseases in Germany has been considered deficient for a long time and in need of improvement. The launch of Disease Management Programmes (DMP) for type 2 diabetes in the summer of 2002 can be seen as an attempt to optimise health care for the chronically ill. The aim of our study was to find out at an early stage of DMP development which factors, personal or otherwise, would have an influence on whether diabetic patients know of, and are willing to participate in, such a programme. The data of 679 diabetic patients, collected between late 2002 and the end of 2003, presented here have been extracted from a written follow-up study to the three baseline surveys S1 (1984/85), S2 (1989/90) und S3 (1994/95) in Augsburg as part of the WHO-MONICA project with more than 13,000 participants. The study population is characterised by a rather high age (mean: 67.4 years), a long duration of the disease (mean: 9.8 years) as well as a high intensity of contacts with physicians. Only 28 % of the diabetic patients had heard of the DMP, but a majority of the participants (54 %) stated their readiness to participate in DMP once offered. Higher age, low education as well as no participation in diabetes education have been identified in logistic regression models as impeding factors both for the knowing of and the participation in DMP. As a consequence, promotion of the DMP should be directed to those sections of the diabetic population outside the effective reach of the traditional diabetes care organisations.