We have set out to investigate an approach to improve patients' ability to self-manage chronic illness. For effective health care in chronic disease, we believe patients need to work in partnership with their doctor; patient-centred consultations are one way to achieve this. This report describes our experience of training specialists in gastroenterology to consult in a patient-centred style as part of a complex self-management intervention in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 700 patients with established inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) attending outpatient clinics. The training session aimed to provide specialists from nine randomly selected intervention sites with the basic skills to carry out the intervention. The training lasted 2 hours, and included background on the research and intervention, a demonstration video, role-play, and video-feedback training. The main findings of the RCT are presented (service use, enablement and satisfaction), and discussed in the light of the views of consultants and patients on the experience of putting the training into practice. The findings of our study confirm and highlight the value of training in patient-centred communication and its potential for promoting self-management effects; the training proved effective in enabling consultants in gastroenterology to establish guided self-management in patients with IBD.