On Friday 6th June, over 500 of the very best in social care attended a glittering awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane, for the national finals of the Great British Home Care Awards, where the national category winners were announced.

The Great British Home Care Awards, in association with Specsavers Healthcall and hosted by United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA), brought together the winners from the nine regional Great British Care Awards held in Autumn 2013. Winners from each region were invited to compete once again to become the national champions.

Sector support for the awards includes the Department of Health, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Alzheimer’s Society,  National Skills Academy for Social Care and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) as well as local authorities and commercial organisations.

There were a total of fourteen award categories available for nomination, which represent all areas of the home 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 specialist care in areas such as dementia and innovation.

Thegala awards evening started in style with a champagne reception, followed by a superb gourmet dinner with some surprise performance from The Singing Waiters.  The awards were presented by comedian Patrick Monahan and the evening concluded with music from a live band and dancing into the night.

The awards support a chosen charity, The Care Workers Charity, the registered charity for the care sector that support current, former and retired care professionals by providing assistance to relieve financial hardship or sickness and also provide advice and guidance on the availability of state support and links with debt counsellors.

Bridgett Warr, chief executive of UKHCA said,

“Whatever the weather and whatever else is happening in the world, every day and in every corner of the country, homecare workers are out and about – often unnoticed – providing the vital care and support that enables so many people to live independently in their own homes

The Great British Care Awards play an important role in recognising and celebrating truly outstanding individuals in the homecare workforce, who through their skills, dedication and commitment are making a real difference to people’s lives”.

Specsavers Healthcall director of business development, Jayne Rawlinson said, “Care workers often work long unsociable hours caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our society and often this goes unrecognised. The Great British Care Awards are so important because they give us a chance to celebrate these workers and recognise the huge impact they have on the lives of the people they care for.”

Lisa Carr, director of the Great British Care Awards said,

“This is the fifth year we have held the national finals and we have once again been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm from our industry. The quality of the finalists from across the country and throughout the sector is extremely high and the judges have had the unenviable task of choosing an overall winner for each category – a true national champion.  The awards offer a unique opportunity to celebrate the successes of individuals, teams and businesses throughout the UK – people who really do make a positive impact on people’s lives.  During these testing economic times social care has once again suffered the impact of associated adversity – the awards are a positive way of raising motivation within our social care workforce and indeed the profile of the sector as a whole.  The evening has been truly exhilarating; everyone here tonight is a winner.

 

The winners of the Great British Home Care Awards, together with the judge’s comments are detailed below:

 

The Care Employer Award

Tania Sutlieff & Julie Crawford

Eternity Care

South East

 

‘Eternity Care showed a different approach to providing bespoke care and support. Some great examples included organising a shark snorkelling trip and fundraising for a client’s holiday. They truly believe their staff are key to success!’

 

The Home Care Worker Award

Madeleine Moll-Harrach

Safe Harbour Homecare Ltd

South East

 

‘The way Maddy talked about personalised care really emphasised the importance of knowing the client and their family; their preferences and aspirations well. She has extensive experience and provides sensitive care focused on the individual. Her modesty beliefs an outstanding commitment to ‘Satisfying each and every client’. She clearly loves her job and goes the extra mile.’

 

The Care Newcomer Award

Carla Hainsworth

Carefound Homecare

York

 

‘In a very competitive category where each candidate was exceptional in their right and a potential overall national winner. Carla’s transparency to care sparkling and quite simply she was magical.’

 

The Home Care Registered Manager Award

Amanda Pettitt

Active Assistance

South East

 

‘Amanda’s innovative and committed approach to managing  a particularly challenging client group was presented with a strong passion that impressed the judges.’

 

The Dignity in Care Award

Sharon Hirshman

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

York

 

“Sharon has used her own experience of deafness to make a positive impact in the lives of others. Her own impairment has had a hugely positive impact on her clients and team”

 

The Dementia Care Award

Ann Colterell

Alzheimer’s Society

 

‘The Judges felt that Ann demonstrated a sensitive and compassionate approach and sees her role as a partner into each individual she cares for. We would all like Ann to look after us!’

 

Care Team Award

Anna Nip, Fomel Liang & Li Jin Koo

Reach the People Chairty – Chinese Domcilary Care Team

West Midlands

 

‘An amazing team, what they are trying to achieve against huge challenges is inspirational. Their vision would be for all Chinese older adults to receive the care that they as a team provide.’

 

The Care Trainer Award

Kirsten Barnacle

Mobile Care Services

West Midlands

 

‘The Judges were all impressed with Kirsten’s innovative approach to learning her enthusiasm and dedication shone through. Well done Kirsten.’

 

 

The Care Innovator Award

Dave Whittock

Housing and Support Solutions

York

 

‘Value driven, passionate and resilient to achieve success. Dave has had to overcome significant and overwhelming challenges in order to deliver and model of care and support, which ensures that it gets the best out of people and that all have an equal opportunity to live a good life. ‘

 

The Frontline Leaders Award

Marek Dziankowski

Community Integrated Care

York

 

‘Very passionate about his team and clients and will go out of his way to develop appropriate solutions that will help and support the clients. He values input from the team and encourages and empowers them to try ne things and approaches. An absolute champion of person centred support and credit to the profession.’

 

 

The Home Care Co-ordinator Award

Mark Bushell

Home Instead Senior Care

North West

 

‘Mark Finds that this is the most rewarding job with communication the key. He is also involved in recruitment because he believes that he is a good judge of character and the reliability of the staff recruited is key to the quality of the service provided.’

 

The Putting People First Award

Paul Astley, Michelle Hill, Julia Bishop

Dudley MBC – Community Opportunities Team

West Midlands

 

‘The community opportunities team inspired the judges with great examples of how people who use services receive a personalised approach.

The Service has supported individuals into paid employment, taking control of their own future by developing user led groups which allow people to “not be spoken to, but to be listened to” a well deserved winner amongst winners’

 

Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award

Mike Rogers

London

 

Mike has been an inspiration in forging the path in domiciliary care . He is acutely aware of the challenges that are faced daily by the providers and the pressures on the purchasers of the service . His experience and wisdom shine through in helping to develop workable solutions to delivering the service.  He is also one of the nicest people to work with . His encouragement and support and council have  played a big part in the successful development of many carers within the sector.