Reed Wellbeing Ltd
1St Floor, 24 - 26 Rushworth Street, London, SE1 0RBPatient ratings and reviews
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Reviews
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Review titled Not fit for purpose
by Richard - Posted on 27 August 2024
The idea of encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyle to avoid developing diabetes is attractive to anyone in that position. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. And doing this within a group of people in a similar position opens up a wealth of opportunities. So, in theory this should be a good programme with long term benefits. In practice the programme delivered by Reed Wellbeing is a total waste of time and money. The idea of setting targets, reviewing them and discussing issues with other people in the group is sound. But long before the end of the course this became a meaningless paper exercise. Targets were rarely reviewed or challenged and discussion within the group was, at best a token gesture. At session 6 as part of the Smart Review I wrote, For my successes 'None'. My barriers 'Life'. My solutions 'Die, Starve'. That should have set alarm bells ringing but no one took any notice. The presentation of the course, which in theory should have been good was uninspiring. The coach would regularly read out questions from one page of the handbook and participants would reluctantly read out the answers on the next page. Sessions regularly finished well before the 1 1/2 hours they were supposed to take and some activities, for example having a taster of formal relaxation never happened. The course booklet on page 3 says "......we will be doing this in 13 fun, interactive group sessions". There was nothing "fun" about any of the sessions I attended. The group rarely interacted in a purposeful way, possibly because of the high dropout rate. Which raises the question why do so many people drop out? Motivation, enjoyment and challenge are key to the success of any programme like this. Sadly these were all missing from the course I attended. After a successful career in education I consider myself to be pretty good at judging training programmes. If OFSTED had observed any of the sessions I attended they would have graded the majority as inadequate. I would be interested to know how much the programme costs per person and would suggest this could be better spent elsewhere. I also look forward to reading a reply to this review. I have noted that non of the negative reviews to date have received one yet.
Visited January 2024
Reed Wellbeing Ltd has not yet replied.
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Review titled A great help
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Paul - Posted on 23 February 2024
I am currently attending a diabetes prevention program. I have found the information provided, together with other patients attending to be very helpful in enabling me to undertake life style changes. The facilitator at the sessions has been excellent. My only criticism is the layout of the handbook.
Visited January 2024
Review titled Reed Wellbeing Ltd
Replied on 06 March 2024
Good afternoon Paul, Your review is highly appreciated! We're glad you've had a positive experience with our services, and we will share your feedback with the team. Please reach out to quality.improvement@reed.com with any further comments or suggestions you wish to share. Kind regards, Reed Wellbeing
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Review titled One size fits all regime
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 02 February 2024
I have been attending this course since last August. The coach is excellent. My blood sugar has returned to normal but my cholesterol has spiked. I have sent emails to the coach asking if there may be a medical person I could speak to assigned to the course who may know if this could be a temporary spike. I have lost over 12% of my weight. I advised the coach at the last meeting I was worried about this. He just told me not to worry. I have also asked who is actually monitoring weight loss as this does not seem to be happening. There is no feedback, worries go unanswered (probably due to the way the coach has been briefed in that he is not to answer any medical questions as not a trained professional in this respect). I think these courses achieve their goal but the drop out rate is very high. I think this will be due to lack of individual feedback.
Visited January 2024
Review titled Reed Wellbeing Ltd
Replied on 07 February 2024
Good morning, Thank you for your feedback, we are always looking for ways to improve on our services. Please reach out to quality.improvement@reed.com with any further feedback or suggestions you wish to share. Kind regards, Reed Wellbeing
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Review titled Complete waste of time and tax payers money
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Richard - Posted on 02 November 2024
I was referred to the National Diabetes Prevention Programme by my GP in August 2023. The idea of encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyle to avoid developing diabetes is attractive to anyone in that position. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. And doing this within a group of people in a similar position opens up a wealth of opportunities. So, in theory this should be a good programme with long term benefits. In practice the programme delivered by Reed Wellbeing is a total waste of time and money. The idea of setting targets, reviewing them and discussing issues with other people in the group is sound. But long before the end of the course this became a meaningless paper exercise. Targets were rarely reviewed or challenged and discussion within the group was, at best a token gesture. At session 6 as part of the Smart Review I wrote, For my successes 'None'. My barriers 'Life'. My solutions 'Die, Starve'. That should have set alarm bells ringing with the coach but no one took any notice. The presentation of the course, which in theory should have been good was uninspiring. The coach would regularly read out questions from one page of the handbook and participants would reluctantly read out the answers on the next page. Sessions regularly finished well before the 1 1/2 hours they were supposed to take and some activities, for example having a taster of formal relaxation never happened. The course booklet on page 3 says "......we will be doing this in 13 fun, interactive group sessions". There was nothing "fun" about any of the sessions I attended. The group rarely interacted in a purposeful way, possibly because of the high dropout rate. Which raises the question why do so many people drop out? Motivation, enjoyment and challenge are key to the success of any programme like this. Sadly these were all missing from the course I attended. After a successful career in education I consider myself to be pretty good at judging training programmes. If OFSTED had observed any of the sessions I attended they would have graded the majority as inadequate. I would be interested to know how much the programme costs per person and would suggest this could be better spent elsewhere. I also look forward to reading a reply to this review.
Visited November 2023
Reed Wellbeing Ltd has not yet replied.
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Review titled Huge disappointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Tim New - Posted on 01 September 2023
The trainer spoke for well over 60 minutes. ‘A typical student’s attention span is about 10 to 15 minutes long’. (Reference not allowed by 'Bot) The session ran over time and lasted approximately 70 minutes. Non verbal cues of waning attention went unnoticed or were disregarded. The only interactions were unstructured and pertained to answering (as a group) answers to simplistic questions in the work book. Participants were not asked to turn off or mute mobile ‘phones. Those of us that did without being asked were distracted by ring tones, and frequent text message sounds from the ‘phones of those of us who did. The trainer was fairly pleasant, but did struggle to find the correct words to use on a few occasions and the heavy accent required full attention. Pedometers were handed out with the advisory ‘we know that some of these will not work, but you can pick a new one up next time’. This led me to assume that a known faulty batch of instruments was quite good enough for a bunch of fat older people like us. No reference at all was made to the widespread availability of affordable smart watches and free apps to use with them. It was as if we had slipped back to a time when these things were ‘all the rage’. There was a person who seemed to be observing and taking notes who was clearly not part of the group. Her identity and purpose were not disclosed and she remained ‘a ‘mystery woman’ throughout and this contributed to wavering attention as people tried to figure out who she was and why she was there. I walked in to a group of strangers and walked out of a group of strangers. I was hoping there would be introductions to each other and an opportunity to form a cohesive mutually supportive group. There was no opportunity to do this, although it was hinted towards the end of the session that this would happen next time. This was the most disappointing aspect of the session. People were trying very hard to get to know each other before the session started and there was an immediate feeling of camaraderie. This ceased and was dampened by the commencement of the long and quite disjointed monologue over the next 60 – 70 minutes, and thereafter, people seemed glad just to get weighed and get out of there (I was). I would normally be far more patient and tolerant than I have presented myself in this feedback review. However, Pre – diabetes and unhealthy life – styles will undoubtedly prematurely kill some of us over time. It seemed that this contracted out service has been sub – contracted out to a trainer without the necessary skills to engage with attendees and get the best out of potentially life – altering sessions. This may well have saved a small amount of money, but the cost is at least one (and I suspect more) attendees will not re-attend and that the attendance attrition rate will be high. I genuinely regret that I have nothing positive to say about this hugely disappointing experience.
Visited August 2023
Reed Wellbeing Ltd has not yet replied.
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Review titled missed opportunity
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 September 2023
I've just completed the course. I've just now tried to contact Reed to say the feedback form is inadequate for me to register what I want to say. I also asked how my information would be used and if my GP practice would be informed. The email bounced back. My experiences are similar to others in these reviews. The first and second pedometer didn't work so I gave up on the steps. The manual is too long. I didn't engage with aspects like the 'gold, silver, bronze' targets. Although the instructor seemed to do their best to get through each chapter, I was aware how stressful this work must be. Like another contributor I walked in a stranger and left after 10 months, still a stranger. I did suggest group work to bond with and learn from others, but this didn't happen. We could have formed a support group post course. I felt the sessions were chalk and talk rather than interactive. I wouldn't blame the instructor, there was just so much information and these instructors travel a lot to each venue. I was aware of how much the NHS spends on each person so I was determined to see it through to the end. I believe the manual should be rewritten or edited. The idea of diabetes prevention is a great one but the fact that Reed don't make it easy to contact them speaks volumes about their willingness to communicate with us. I feel I'm just a number. I prefer to contact my GP surgery directly with feedback.
Visited August 2023
Reed Wellbeing Ltd has not yet replied.
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Review titled Terrible
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 03 May 2023
I was referred to Reed Wellbeing through my general practice for their diabetes prevention programme after developing gestational diabetes in pregnancy. In my initial phone consultation, I specified that due to childcare, I couldn't attend anything until after 3pm. Despite that, they offered me a course at 11am and asked me to call if it worked. I did not call as it obviously didn't work. They then left me an answer machine message while I was on holiday (so they would have had international dial) offering me yet another course prior to 3pm. I didn't call back as I was on holiday, so the next day I got a text saying they were referring me back to the general practice because they'd tried to contact me "several times" despite the fact that no messages implied I must reply. I emailed them to stop them referring me back to the general practice and they claimed they'd also emailed me. I stated that I'd received zero emails and who were they emailing. That question was ignored, but I was put onto a 6pm course. I attended the first session this week and I was not impressed in the slightest and wish to explain why. The reason for my referral is that I developed gestational diabetes which means you're more susceptible to diabetes when you're older.. In the course I attended, I was the only person there that this was the case for. In this introductory session, we were informed that the aim over the course was to lose 5%-10% body fat and then they weighed everyone in the session to work out what that would be. This on its own alarmed me. I am a clothing size 10 and not overweight in the slightest - someone needs to review these sessions as it cannot be a one size fits all. We were then shown a food diary section, with a column for calories and whilst the lady said calories are not compulsory, I found it to be very triggering and encouraging a very unhealthy relationship with food. Next, we were told that we need to track our steps every day and whilst I'm on board with encouraging mobility, again I don't think bringing in a tracking obsession is healthy. So in short - track my weight, track my calories and track my steps, which for the most part for me, encourages an unhealthy number obsession and it really upset me, especially when I absolutely do not need to lose weight. We were also told of "quick wins" eg cut out alcohol- I don't drink. Cut down on red meat - I don't eat red meat etc etc. Not once were we asked about our wellbeing or how we felt about this in the session and to top it off I was told I should have received an email on the sessions which I obviously didn't receive because admin is emailing an email that's not mine clearly. I raised this and was told someone would call me to rectify this. Today I got a text not a call that I cannot reply to telling me to check my spam mail which I found to be patronising. There is nothing in my spam and still nobody has asked me what my email even is.
Visited May 2023
Reed Wellbeing Ltd has not yet replied.