Reed Wellbeing delivered a focused, practical session at the West London GP Federation CRM (cardiovascular, renal & metabolic) training day, covering Make Every Contact Count (MECC), motivational interviewing and effective signposting into local services, including our own delivery of One You Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.
The session centred on how to improve the quality, not the length, of primary care conversations. It reinforced that MECC is about using brief, permission‑based discussions to build engagement, reduce resistance and support behaviour change within existing consultations, rather than adding time or workload.
The content was deliberately practical and tailored to primary care, covering:
The role of brief interventions (MECC) vs extended support (MECC+)
Core behaviour change principles (COM‑B and readiness to change) to explain why advice alone often fails
Simple conversational frameworks such as the 5 A’s (Ask, Assess, Advise, Agree & Assist) and motivational interviewing (OARS – open questions, affirmations, reflections & summaries)
The importance of listening, permission and patient‑led goals to build engagement and trust
A key focus was health confidence, how patients feel about managing their health, accessing support and being involved in decisions, which is increasingly recognised as a measurable indicator of engagement and outcomes.
The session directly linked to current system priorities, reinforcing how Reed Wellbeing services, including One You Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, acts as a key destination for patient referrals while also sharing expertise to support GPs to improve the quality of referrals. This is particularly important as health confidence is now a KPI within the new diabetes referral framework. By improving how conversations are delivered, clinicians can strengthen patient readiness, engagement and ultimately referral effectiveness.
Attendees also took part in brief interactive exercises to practise applying motivational interviewing skills in realistic scenarios, focusing on understanding patient priorities and working with ambivalence rather than moving too quickly to advice.
To embed learning into practice, Reed Wellbeing co‑developed a follow‑up questionnaire with the West London GP Educator, enabling clinicians to evidence how they are applying health coaching principles in consultations and reflect on their impact on patient engagement and referral quality over time.
This approach reflects Reed Wellbeing’s wider experience in behaviour change, using evidence‑based methods not only within our own services, but to train and upskill healthcare professionals, as outlined in Dr Laura Falconer’s 10 years of behaviour change article.
Through this session, GPs were supported to make small, meaningful changes to everyday conversations, helping ensure that the right patients are referred, at the right time, with the confidence to engage.
Small conversations, done well and done often, really do change lives.