Saturday 17th October saw the exciting climax to the inaugural Great East Midlands Care Awards. Hosted by Des Coleman of ‘The One Show’ fame, the sector’s inaugural awards for the region culminated in a spectacular gala dinner at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham.

Sponsored by HET Software and supported by the Department of Health, the Great East Midlands Care awards received nominations and support from all corners of the sector.

Nominations were invited from all corners of the sector and the region and successful candidates invited for interview. From here all the finalists and guests representing all areas of the care sector, attended a spectacular gala dinner at the East Midlands Conference Centre where the winners were announced. The gala awards evening started in style with a champagne reception, followed by a superb gourmet dinner, the awards presentation with celebrity presenter Des Coleman and dancing into the night.

The Great East Midlands Care Awards are part of the Great British Care Awards – a series of regional care awards throughout the UK. The awards are a celebration of excellence across the care sector and are managed by the team behind the Ceretas National Home Care Awards, a high profile annual event for the home care industry. 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.

There are a total of around eighteen awards categories available for nomination, which represent all areas of the care sector, whether it be older people or specialist services, residential or home care. From frontline staff such as care workers and care managers to people who have made an impact in other ways such as training, IT and innovation.

The winners from all the regional awards will then be invited to attend the National Events for either Home Care or Care Homes sectors at the prestigious London’s Guildhall, in May and June 2010.

The awards have received support from across the social care sector, including the Department of Health, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Ceretas, the English Community Care Association (ECCA), the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and Action on Elder Abuse.

The awards support a chosen charity, The Maggie’s Centre, which has sites across the country supporting people who lives have been impacted upon by cancer.

Lisa Carr, a Director of the Great British Care Awards said,

“We were truly heartened to receive such an overwhelming response to the Great East Midlands Care Awards and the quality of the nominations has been extremely high. The awards offer a unique opportunity to celebrate the successes of individuals, teams and businesses throughout the East Midlands – people who really do make a positive impact on people’s lives. The awards will really help to raise the profile of social care in our region and we are delighted of the success of what was truly a memorable evening.”

John Mayhew, Chief Executive of Het Software and the awards’ principal sponsor comments,

“Following our involvement with the Ceretas Awards and Annual Conference I experienced firsthand the positive impact that such events can have for everyone involved in the care industry.

We all face the same challenges and share a common goal. The biggest challenge at the moment would appear to be the Government’s Personalisation Agenda. Although the full consequences of personalisation are not fully understood at this time, one thing is for certain – the impact will be far reaching.

In theory personalisation should accomplish what we all wish to achieve for home care service users, with greater choice leading to improved quality of life. Our common goal is to continuously improve the quality and consistency of care delivered and to raise the profile of the home care industry.

Through sponsorship of the Great British Care Awards HET Software can be instrumental in providing a national platform that helps to promote best practice and excellence in service delivery, acknowledges the commitment and dedication of the people who work within our sector and to generally raise the profile of the care sector in the UK.”

The winners of the inaugural Great East Midlands Care Awards, together with the judges comments, are as follows:

Care Employer Award (1), Wren Hall Nursing Home

Anita’s business objectives were clearly linked to excellent service delivery, with exemplary practice in empowering staff to deliver high quality care.

Care Employer Award (2), Cornerstone Support Living Ltd

Cornerstones was chosen due to the outstanding passion and commitment to providing person centred individualised services for people with learning disabilities. Their drive and enthusiasm was inspiring.

Care Home Worker Award, Maggie Musemwa, The Limes Residential Home

Maggie demonstrated knowledge and understanding of her role, the judges were impressed by her values of person centred care and the importance of details – providing a quality service.

Home Care Worker Award, Joy Groom, Direct Health

Joy’s commitment to her service users and passion for care was very evident. She gives 110% and for Joy it’s so much more than a job – it’s a vocation.

Care Home Registered Manager Award, Mary Craig, Northamptonshire County Council

Mary demonstrated a very high level of expertise. She is clearly a manager who has known vision in developing strong service delivery.

Home Care Registered Manager Award, Gill Heppell, Percurra

Gill is a passionate manager, with a clear customer focus. Gill places the service user at the heart of her business, with clear vision for the future of home care. Gill deserves her place as the winner of home care registered manager.

Care Newcomer Award, Rachel Guthrie, Innova House

Rachael demonstrated that she was a top performing student at the college. She showed real interpersonal skills and a passion for her service users to reach the full potential shown through.

Care Home Nutrition Award, Malcolm Shipton, Wren Hall Nursing Homes

Malcolm believes ‘ it is the residents’ lives we are enhancing and improving the quality of their lives in the last few years.’ Malcolm treats each of his forty plus residents as an individual.

Dignity in Care Award, LHA Support Services Community Team

The judges were impressed with the commitment and energy of this team. They demonstrated a real understanding of the principle of dignity and how it does run through their duty to day work. They also showed examples of challenging wider prejudices in terms of promoting dignity.

Dementia Care Award, Stephanie Wilkinson, Laura Chambers Lodge Care Home for Older People

The Standards for this section was high, Laura Chambers Lodge stood out with their passion for providing on innovative, individual service, encouraging partnership working with a M.D.T. ensuring the service user was central at all times.

Care Team Award, The Oakleaf Care Team

The judges were impressed by the total passion and care that shown by the team and their approach to working. Team work came naturally and ensured that the individuals they look after have excellent outcomes.

Care Home Activity Organiser, Tracy Horsey, Egerton Lodge

Tracey tailors the activities to the needs of the home’s residents and users a wide range of techniques to improve the lives of the residents at Egerton Lodge.

Ancillary Care Award, Hayley Pell, Innova House

Hayley impressed judges with her enthusiasm to her task, demonstrated her ability to combine the requirements for health safety & hygiene with the opportunity to create a homely environment for people living at Innova House.

Care Trainer Award, Susannah Spencer, Lincolnshire County Council

Susannah’s enthusiasm and passion was evident – She had the vision to see how the learning and development of staff met with the changing needs of service delivery and challenges facing social care services today.

Care Innovator Award, Amanda De Santis, Northamptonshire County Council

The judges were impressed by Amanda’s energy in identifying an opportunity to help people become more informed and empowered, enabling them to make the necessary choices and to take control of their lives. This service equips them to exploit the new world of personal budges.

IT Innovator Award, Laura Chambers Lodge Care Home for Older People

The innovation, a tracking button for clothing, was simple, easy to use and cost effective. It clearly deliveries efficiencies for the organisation whilst supporting dignity for people using the service.

Outstanding Contribution Award, Terry Pears, Nottinghamshire County Council

Terry Pears has had an extraordinary career spanning 35 years. Her tireless dedication and service development has provided high standards of quality care for the people of Nottinghamshire. She has a real passion to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect. We are delighted to award the outstanding contribution award to Terry.