Spirit Health has adapted its structured diabetes education programme EMPOWER from face-to-face meetings to a virtual service using video calls as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spirit now runs three courses a week for up to 20 newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes patients across the UK. Claire Pridige, Education Service Manager, Spirit Health, explains, “It’s so important to be able to support newly diagnosed diabetes patients, many of whom will be anxious about their condition, and arguably even more so than usual during this time. Two of our trained diabetes educators have been able to convert rooms in their homes to provide the specialist education online, using video conferencing and chat facilities to help engage patients and encourage dialogue, which is an important part of the programme. So far, the feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive.”
EMPOWER was designed specifically for people with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes. It consists of a structured curriculum delivered in a single session lasting 3–4 hours. The lesson plan encourages active and practical involvement of participants, along with the use of problem-solving models, aids identification, and planning of individualised strategies and interventions to help patients self-manage their diabetes. Participants set goals, and clinical and biometric data are captured at 6 and 12-to-14 months by patients’ GPs.
Read more about the programme HERE.
