Saturday 25th November saw over 400 of the very best in social care attended a glittering awards ceremony at The Marriott Hotel, Bristol for the finals of the Great South West Awards, where the category winners were announced.
The Great South West 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.
Sector support 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 commercial organisations.
There are a total of twenty one award 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 and innovation.
Winners of the Great South West Care Awards will go through to the final at Birmingham’s ICC in Spring 2018.
The winners of the Great British South West Care Awards, together with the judge’s comments are detailed below:
The Care Employer Award
Brunelcare
For a business that’s been running for 76 years which was born from such a humble start this employer still seems fresh and exciting, giving wonderful opportunities for everyone and making a real difference.
The Care Home Worker Award
Teresa Walker, Shared Lives
Teresa has worked in care for 30 years and lives her whole life centred around making the lives of those less fortunate live happy lives, offering up her own home to share life with them. She is a true inspiration.
The Home Care Worker Award
Debbie Foxford, Bluebird Care
Debbie’s commitment, love and outstanding contribution to home care and the individuals she looks after shone through and is exemplary. Debbie has cared for over 30 years to date and is a worthy winner of this award.
The Care Newcomer Award
Devan Rich, Home Caring for Autism LTD
Devan is a young girl who has dedicated her life to helping people with autism. From a school field to her grandmother, who ultimately influenced her decision to take up the role she does today. She is an inspiration to young people and is a true star!
The Care Home Registered Manager Award
Wendy Leaman, St Monica Trust
Wendy embodies everything that you would want in a care home manager. She radiates passion for the service that she leads. All of her residents and staff are important to her as individuals. She ensures that the care home and her residents are closely linked to the community and aims to make wishes come true.
The Home Care Registered Manager Award
Chelsi Cornwell, Aspirations
Chelsi’s enthusiasm and passion shone through. She is a fabulous leader, manager and mentor to her care team. As a result service users receive quality, person centred care.
The Care Home Cook/Chef Award
Mathieu Eke, Caring Communities
Mathieu demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the importance of good nutrition. Passionate about involving people in planning their menus and meets with the team to ensure nutritional needs are being met.
The Dignity in Care Award
Dominic Long, Homes Caring for Autism
Dominic ensures dignity and respect for his clients is uppermost in his mind. He has devoted his career to supporting vulnerable adults and was a real star candidate.
The Dementia Carer Award
Lisa Hodge-Dean, Riversway Nursing Home
Lisa’s enthusiasm and empathy shone through. She sees the person not the disease and ensures dignity, independence and wellbeing are at the heart of care provision.
The Care Home Team Award
The Old Rectory
The Old Rectory ensure residents are happy to be there. Embracing the culture of ‘don’t leave your life at the door’ the Old Rectory has developed a full operative community with a pub, coffee shop and a champion of happiness.
The Home Care Team Award
The Corinium Care Team
An enthusiastic and dedicated team of care professionals who support one another to ensure positive outcomes are maximised for the service users.
The Care Home Activities Co-ordinator Award
Imogen Loftus, Wiltshire Heights
Imogen is passionate about her role. She is dedicated to maximising wellbeing and choice through a meaningful activities programme. A worthy winner.
The Ancillary Worker Award
Monika Szwolko, Brunelcare
Monika is more than a housekeeper. She is committed to ensuring the residents are happy, fulfilled and remain as independent as possible. Her hands on approach ensures that their wellbeing is always maximised. Well done Monika!
The Care Trainer Award
William Love, Keys Group
William’s specialist knowledge and experience has given him great credibility as a care trainer. He has demonstrated a passion and devotion to developing the skills of individuals at all levels in the care profession.
The Care Innovator Award
Teresa Gibson and Julie Knasta, Crossroads
A simple idea that runs on the hard work of two wonderful caring individuals, they give people the opportunity to make friends and build new positive relationships.
The Frontline Leaders Award
Donna McGauley, Dimensions
Donna shows a real sense of teamwork, passion and genuine love for care and learning disabilities in particular. She truly demonstrates values around respect, support and leadership and total dedication for a job she loves.
The Home Care Co-ordinator Award
Kerry Brain, Crossroads Care
Kerry is a caring individual with an excellent hands on approach, giving staff and service users the best service possible. Well done Kerry!
The Care Assessor/Care Planner Award
Vicky Lodge, Home Instead Senior Care
Vicky is passionate about person-centred care and ensures a high standard of care is always delivered right from the beginning when completing an assessment. She always strives to put the service users’ needs first.
The Putting People First/Personalisation Award
Emma Dolphin, Fidelia CK Limited
Emma shows great empathy towards the clients she supports, using personal experience to create a positive career.
The Good Nurse Award
Alison McHugh, Porthaven Care Homes
Alison passion for what she does is infectious. She strives to enable independence and promote wellbeing by working in partnership with health professionals. For Alison it’s a vocation not a job.
The Palliative Care/End of Life Award
The Beeches Team, St Monica Trust
A team that support one another to provide person centred palliative care. Compassionate and dedicated, this team of care professionals are a credit to the sector.
The Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award
Derek Law, Group Chairman of Coastline Housing