As we continue to celebrate 10 years of delivering the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, Lesa Maginn, Clinical Assurance and Quality manager at Reed Wellbeing, explores how clinical validation underpins everything we do:
For the past 10 years, Healthier You has supported tens of thousands of people to reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by making sustainable changes to their lifestyle. While participants will most visibly experience the support of our Health Coaches, behind every high-quality session sits a rigorous clinical framework shaped by expert knowledge, evidence and continuous assurance.
At Reed Wellbeing, we must ensure that what we deliver is not only engaging and accessible, but clinically robust, safe and evidence based. A key part of this is how we work with clinical experts, alongside our internal Health Improvement Leads, to shape, validate and continuously improve our services.
Why clinical validation matters
Healthier You operates in a complex clinical space. We support people with non-diabetic hyperglycaemia, many of whom may also be managing multiple long-term conditions, taking prescribed medications or experiencing psychological challenges that impact behaviour change.
This makes clinical oversight essential, not as a one-off approval, but as an ongoing partnership that ensures our content, approaches and safeguards remain aligned with:
The latest national guidance and evidence
Best practice behavioural science
The real-world needs and risks of our participant populations
Clinical validation gives commissioners confidence, supports our Health Coaches, and most importantly, protects our participants.
Our multidisciplinary clinical partnerships
One of the strengths of Healthier You is the breadth of professional expertise that informs its design and delivery. We work closely with a multidisciplinary group of clinical experts, each bringing a distinct but complimentary perspective.
Dietetic expertise
Registered dieticians play a central role in shaping our nutritional content. They ensure that:
Advice is evidence-based and aligned with national guidance
Messaging is balanced, non-stigmatising and culturally sensitive
Content is practical and realistic for everyday life
Their input helps us move beyond rules or prescriptive dieting, instead supporting participants to develop healthier relationships with food that they can sustain long term.
Psychological and behavioural insight
Lifestyle change is rarely just about knowledge, it is about emotions, habits, confidence and resilience. Our work with psychotherapists and behavioural specialists helps ensure that Healthier You:
Integrates psychologically informed behaviour change techniques
Recognises the emotional impact of health conversations
Creates safe, inclusive spaces for participants at different stages of readiness
This expertise supports the way sessions are facilitated, how language is used and how we support participants who may feel overwhelmed or anxious about change.
Medical oversight and governance
Our work with Dr Colin Speers, Medical Director provides essential clinical leadership across the programme. This ensures:
Alignment with NHS pathways and clinical priorities
Appropriate risk management and escalation processes
Robust clinical governance and safeguarding arrangements
Medical oversight also helps us respond proactively to emerging evidence, policy changes and the evolving needs of the population we serve.
As Dr Speers explains:
My role as Medical Director is to ensure that clinical governance forms the foundation of everything we do at Reed Wellbeing. For the Healthier You programme, this means moving beyond simple compliance to ensure our delivery is consistently safe, effective, and person-centred. “This is achieved through a commitment to continuous improvement led by data and research evidence. By aligning our internal processes with the latest clinical guidelines, we ensure that our interventions remain at the forefront of best practice. “This rigorous approach allows us to monitor population health trends effectively, adapting our delivery to meet the evolving needs of the communities we serve while maintaining the high standards expected by our NHS partners.
From expert advice to frontline delivery
Clinical expertise at Reed Wellbeing is embedded directly into frontline delivery. Expert input is translated into clinically approved content and resources, clear guidance and escalation routes for delivery teams, and a strong framework of ongoing training, supervision and quality assurance. We continuously review delivery data, participant feedback and emerging evidence, using these insights to inform programme development. Our clinical consultants are therefore involved not only in the design of services, but also in ongoing reflection, learning and continuous improvement.
As Healthier You continues to evolve including digital innovation and increasingly diverse population needs, strong clinical partnerships will remain essential.
Over the last decade, expert collaboration has helped ensure Healthier You is:
Safe and credible
Compassionate and person-centred
Grounded in evidence but responsive to real lives
As we celebrate 10 years of delivery, Reed Wellbeing is proud of how we bring clinical expertise and human connection together to shape a Healthier You service that has supported more than 179,000 people to manage their risk.