December 9, 2025
Background
Diabetes education is a vital part of effective care, yet many programmes can be resource-intensive – requiring multiple educators and long-term time commitments from both patients and staff. Providers of structured diabetes education are under increasing pressure to find scalable, cost-effective solutions that still deliver excellent outcomes.
EMPOWER supports providers through its Train the Educator programme, helping healthcare systems build their own in-house capacity. By training staff to deliver EMPOWER’s accredited diabetes education course, teams can offer high-quality sessions without relying on external providers.
The challenge
Medway Community Hospitals were already offering structured diabetes education through an external provider. However, the existing courses ran for 2.5 hours per week over six weeks – a big time commitment for both patients and staff.
They needed a solution that would:
- Be less time-intensive for patients (EMPOWER courses are delivered in a single four-hour session)
- Be cost-effective to run at scale
- Require minimal staff resources
- Offer ongoing support for educators
- Maintain a high standard of patient education
The solution
EMPOWER partnered with Medway Community Hospitals to deliver its Train the Educator programme. This included:
- Training sessions introducing educators to EMPOWER, our approach and the course structure
- Observation of Medway’s educators, leading to accreditation to deliver the course
- Practical tips and guidance for effective delivery
- Continued access to support from EMPOWER’s clinical lead and diabetes support team
The EMPOWER course itself is designed to be both efficient and impactful:
- Single-educator delivery – no need for multiple facilitators
- Four-hour format – a complete, one-off programme (vs. multiple weekly sessions elsewhere)
- Accredited and patient-centred – ensuring confidence in both content and outcomes
- Proven results – including a 16.4% relative reduction in HbA1c[1]
Outcomes
By training Medway Community Hospitals’ staff to deliver EMPOWER, they have been able to
- Increase access to structured diabetes education for patients
- Reduce delivery costs compared to more resource-heavy alternatives
- Provide educators with ongoing clinical support and mentorship
- Build sustainable, in-house capacity to meet future demand
Looking ahead
With this model, Medway Community Hospitals can now continue delivering accredited diabetes education across their system – supported by EMPOWER’s clinical expertise and resources. This partnership shows how healthcare providers can maximise impact while minimising cost.
Interested in training your educators to deliver an accredited diabetes education course? Get in touch: AskEmpower@spirit-health.com or fill out our contact form.
[1] Sutton D et al. Structured Diabetes Education: virtual access was as effective as face-to-face access to a structured diabetes education programme (EMPOWER T2n) for people with type 2
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