Saturday 10th November saw over 400 of the very best in social care attended a glittering awards ceremony at the Hilton Bankside for the finals of The Great London Care Awards, where the category winners were announced.
The Great London Care Awards are part of the Great British Care Awards, a series of 9 regional awards celebrating excellence across the care sector. The purpose of the awards is to promote best practice within both home care and care homes sectors, and pay tribute to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work.
Sponsored by Access Health and Social Care, sector support also includes Care England, The Department of Health, The National Care Forum, The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), as well as local authorities and other commercial organisations.
There are a range of categories available for nomination, which represent all areas of the care sector; whether it be older people or specialist services and from frontline staff such as care workers and care managers to people who have made an impact in other ways such as training.
Winners of the Great London Care Awards will go through to the final at Birmingham’s ICC on 8th March 2019.
The winners of the Great British London Care Awards, together with the judge’s comments are detailed below:
The Care Employer Award
Manoj Mahtani – The Shine Partnerships Ltd
The judges were struck by Manoj Mahtani’s genuine passion and dedication to the development of his team and his innovative approach to the management structure. He has personally invested in the well being of staff by finding masters degrees and specialist medical treatment that was otherwise unavailable and unaffordable. He is a genuine champion in a part of the care sector that is particularly challenging and often unrecognised.
The Care Home Worker Award
Lawrence McAlinney – Precious Homes
During his interview the judges were impressed by Lawrence’s heart. “I love it” he says and he means it. Lawrence said there is such a big reward when you see someone do something for the first time. Lawrence has worked in care for a short 10 months but during that time has embraced the concept of treating all people as individuals and encouraging and supporting choice and independence.
The Home Care Worker Award
Isabel Ngwenya – Shine Partnerships Ltd
Great initiatives to support people that most of the society has given up on. Overcoming her own health issues to support people in a flexible and person centred care.
The Care Home Newcomer Award
Sophie Richard – Outlook Care
Sophie is passionate about committed to delivering person centred care. A real asset to the sector!
The Home Care Newcomer Award
Roberta Dickens – Bluebird Care, Croydon
Roberta inspirited the judges with her dedication to deliver an individual, personalised support experience to each of her clients every day. Her passion, empathy and motivation to make a difference, whilst remembering it is the little things that mean the most to us all, makes Roberta shine as the winner of this award.
The Care Home Registered Manager Award
Samuel (Sam) Karoma – Barchester, Park View
Sam is extremely passionate and inspires his staff to progress. He has regular stand up meetings to ensure that the service is well led and they are providing care with dignity. He has progressed from being a care worker to registered nurse in 9 years and now manages a complex care environment with 108 beds. He has led the service and built the staff team from ‘requires improvement’ in March 18 with some 9 complaints to being rated ‘good’ and with happy families in a very short period. He has an open door policy and an appreciation and knowledge of how good care should be applied.
The Home Care Registered Manager Award
Mark Bird – Avery
Mark was able to clearly demonstrate how his vision, passion and sheer determination has transformed the lives of his residents. The panel were impressed by Mark’s achievements and by his endless drive and vision, especially meeting the diversity of his community. Well done Mark!
The Care Home Cook/Chef Award
Callum Stoneham – Barchester Healthcare
Callum demonstrated an enthusiastic and innovative approach to his role as head chef. Callum’s development of a food committee has empowered residents and promoted conversation about nutrition, His dedication to the residents was evident, in particular when he went above and beyond to fulfil the wishes of a resident receiving end of life care.
The Dementia Carer Award
Louise Hammond – Eximus Live-in Care
Louise demonstrated a clear understanding and passion for caring with a service user suffering end stage dementia. Louise has dedicated the last five years to caring for and enhancing the life of someone else. Showing knowledge and skills that enable someone to remain safe and at home.
The Care Home Team Award
Hadlow House – Esland Care
The Care Home Team demonstrated inspirational, focussed approach to their work. They had a good understanding of their residents and sought to support them in a very individual way often working over and above what was expected of them.
The Home Care Team Award
Good Care Group
A cohesive outcome focussed passionate home care team with clear vision and direction. A strategic thinking team with person centred care delivery at its heart.
The Care Home Activities Organiser Award
Laura Baumane – HC One
Laura thinks outside the box when helping people through her work. She breathes passion and shows innovation and energy. Laura believes it up to her to give energy to each person – “I want to feel I have done it”. Some great examples given during her interview about how she supports individual people by both unusual and simpler activities.
The Ancillary Worker Award
Irene Ferrier – The Priory Care Home, Advinia
Irene has been working at the Priory Care Home for more than a decade now, as a laundry assistant. We asked Irene why do you love your job? Irene started crying and said “I should have retired ages ago but I didn’t want to. I could be one of them very soon. My manager still see potential in me”. I am half way through my NVQ level 2 – I take pride in all the jobs that the manager gives me. Interviewing Irene it was evident that Irene is giving over and beyond her job role. It is a rewarding career rather than just a job. Outstanding Ancillary worker!
The Care Trainer Award
Sangita Maharjan – Chosen Care Group
Sangita is a qualified nurse and holds a BSC in health and social care. She has a passion for caring and applying her practical experience to assist new carers. She believes in trust, integrity and honestly as being important qualities to impart.
The Care Innovator Award
Tarryn Gore – Kafoodle
This innovation is one of a kind software which could prevent malnutrition and related issues in care settings by tailoring the meal plans to individuals clinical and cultural needs. It could also reduce food waste and help manage conditions better such as dementia.
The Care Home Frontline Leaders Award
Reizie Gamboa – Torkington House
Reize leads by example and motivates staff to deliver person centred quality care in a supportive culture.
The Home Care Frontline Leaders Award
Sareena Sanger – Ask Care Limited
Sareena demonstrated an impressive commitment to staff development and the training of the future frontline leaders in care. As a leader, she demonstrated sound judgment, an empathic approach and an ability to lead by example. This is a testament to the success of her business and its viability to continue to provide person-centred care in the future.
The Putting People First/Personalisation Award
Treow House (Joanne Roddell) – Precious Homes
Treow House is a supporting living facility for people with challenging behaviour, LD, mental health issues. The people supported came to the interview and showed how Treow Is supporting them to lead an independent life. It was hard to find out who was the service user and who were the staff!
The staff showed several examples of how they have enabled their service users to lead an independent and fulfilling life. An amazing bunch of people who show how future care models should be.
The Good Nurse Award
Pravesh Mahoonee – Wakefield House Nursing Home, Preiscilla
Pravesh’s dynamic and passionate attitude to enhancing the reputation of care homes by delivering excellent nursing care to prevent hospital admissions was inspiring – his energy and motivation shone through. He is obviously a key motivator within his organisation.
The Unpaid Carers Award
Ann Durkin – Volunteer – The Priory Care Home
Ann’s father and mother moved to The Priory and since this time she has not only supported her own family – but has also been a pillar of support for the staff and residents in the home. She will work with the activities coordinator to create and support in activities.
She donates regularly to the home, including activity items, towels, bedding plus donates money to buy additional shows and more.
During the summer Ann would come in and buy ice creams for everyone! She loves the home and we appreciate everything she does. She really cares about the wellbeing of everyone in the home, not only her family.
The Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award
Linzi Sim – Chief Operating Officer – Esland
With over 17 years experience in social care, Linzi understands the children and young person’s sector at every level. From working as an RSW, managing a (number of different) homes, delivering the quality assurance for a group of homes and finally regionally managing over 10 ‘Good’ and‘Outstanding’ residential children’s homes for one of the most successful care providers in the U.K. Linzi’s knowledge is further developed by her qualifications. To name a few; NVQ 3 4 in Health Social Care, Leadership Management Certificate – Managing Care Services and Train the Trainer – gaining a distinction in a number of qualifications.
For more information on The Great British Care Awards please visit our web site at www.care-awards.co.uk
Lets celebrate social care and help it get the recognition it deserves