National Care Awards 2022 - Winners Supplement

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Carer

Corrinne Collis joined Bradbury House Care Home as a care assistant in 2019 becoming a Senior Carer in 2021, having previously worked in a nursery and a bakery.

Undertaking a three-week Flexibility Aerobic Balance and Strength (FABS) course, Corrinne delivers personalised seated exercise sessions that enables residents to improve their mobility and dexterity. She also comes into the home on her day off to deliver the classes, so residents don’t miss out on sessions. Corrinne personalises the sessions for the residents and makes them fun.

At a residents’ meeting a resident asked for a bar. Knowing that Corrinne has fantastic practical skills, Kirsty, the Home Manager, asked her jokingly if she thought

she could build one. Three weeks later it was built and ready to use and use it regularly for quiz nights, pub nights, Sunday brunches and karaoke.

Corrinne has also been tasked with building a ‘guinea pig palace’ for the home’s new furry additions and has a list of other projects to tackle.

Through her work at Bradbury House, Corrinne has discovered a passion for care and is keen to continue progressing in her career. She is being supported by Home Manager Kirsty Allen to become the home’s in-house trainer, delivering moving and handling training, and dementia training.

Corrinne has worked on a one-to-one

basis with residents, helping one in particular to regain her mobility. The resident initially needed to use a standing aid. Corrinne supported her to develop strength and stamina and she can now walk short distances and is more independent and confident. It’s all thanks to Corrinne’s skills, patience, and passion for the residents’ wellbeing.

Corrinne treats every resident as an individual and understands what’s important to them. She’ll support people with their grooming and hair care and will happily do nails and make-up. This boosts the resident’s mood, and they have a lovely chat and interaction with Corrinne at the same time.

Unfortunately Corrinne was unable to attend the awards so Kirsty accepted the award on her behalf. In response to winning her award, Corrinne stated, “I just feel so overwhelmed and truly thankful that the job I love gives me the opportunity to be my best self. It is always an honour when your work is recognised but I am only one small cog in our wonderful Bradbury family!”

Kirsty, who accepted the award on behalf of Corrinne said, “I am so proud of Corrinne, it is a huge achievement to be recognised with such a wonderful award. Corrinne goes above and beyond, not only for the residents but for the team as well. She is a huge support to me, always helping me to come up with fun and exciting ways to improve the home for our residents.

Make a difference with me

WINNER

Cherelle Henery, Cranmer Court, Caring Homes

Cherelle Atkinson (née Henery) always knew she wanted to work in care from an early age. She started as a Care Assistant at Cranmer Court Care Home before training as a Nurse. Having worked in emergency care in the NHS, she returned to Cranmer Court in 2016 as a Registered General Nurse and promoted to Senior Registered Nurse in 2020.

Cherelle spends half of her week working alongside the team of nurses delivering day to day care. The other half her week is spent supernumerary, doing medication management and audits, liaising with other healthcare professionals and ensuring that care plans are up to date.

One key aspect of her role, which has been at her behest, is to oversee residents’ nutrition and hydration. Cherelle has been the home’s nutrition nurse for four years. This involves her closely monitoring residents’ weight and wellbeing and taking steps to address any changes in their weight and wellbeing. Cherelle meets weekly with the head chef to plan any necessary interventions to support residents to gain weight. She has helped him to learn more about the practical nutritional needs of older people too. Cherelle will also feedback to the team so they are aware that a resident needs extra support to eat and drink more. The team now has a clear understanding of expectations and a sound understanding

of why nutrition and hydration are important.

Cherelle’s own experience as a care assistant means she understands the challenges that the team face. This creates a strong bond between carers and her: the team respects her and they know she wouldn’t ask them to do anything she wouldn’t do herself. Cherelle is always on hand to support her team and won’t ask her colleagues to do anything she wouldn’t do herself. She encourages colleagues to explore their interests in care and to develop themselves through training.

On winning the award, Cherelle said, “I was thrilled to win the Care Registered Nurse award. I started out at Cranmer Court as a Care Assistant, which ignited my passion for care of the elderly. I am extremely proud to be a Senior Registered Nurse and I hope that my story will inspire others to be the best they can be and realise that anything is achievable if you put your mind to it.”

Home Manager Norah Davey said, “Working alongside Cherelle and watching her career progression has been an honour. She is a truly remarkable young lady and has an exciting journey ahead of her. She is a credit to the nursing profession.”

Cherelle loves her role at Cranmer Court and hopes in the future to complete a Masters degree to become a Clinical Nurse Prescriber.

Supporting over

For forty years we have championed training and innovation to support our care home teams to deliver outstanding care. Residents’ quality of life is at the heart of everything we do, helping individuals to stay active and independent so they can live a happy and fulfilling life.

To find out more about us please visit careuk.com

Trusted to care.

WINNER

Hazel McGwyne, Woodland Grove, Oakland Care Manager

What does this award mean for you?

I am so honoured to be awarded national ‘Care Home Manager of the Year’ 2022. To be recognised by people who have themselves achieved such high levels of recognition in management and business is what gives this award such credibility for me.

The reaction of my team the very next day demonstrated to me how important this award was for my staff, residents and families. On the day after the awards, our minibus driver told me he was proud to have been able to tell his friends and family that he was working in the care home where the home manager had just won the ‘Care Home Manager of the Year’ award. This made me acutely aware of how important this award was for us as a team and as a community, and not just for me.

I think everyone who works in care is a winner, but especially the people at Woodland Grove and Oakland Care. I love my job and that is because of the staff and the residents. Every day is a new experience and, although challenging, it is always very rewarding.

Who helped you reach this level?

I was empowered to do this job well with the support of my chief executive, Joanne Balmer, and the senior leadership team, as well as my staff and my colleagues. During my career in healthcare, I have

worked with many inspirational leaders and have adopted and adapted many of their ideas and qualities to help form my own unique leadership style.

What is your philosophy for success?

My philosophy as a humanitarian is to believe in people and provide them with clarity, skills and guidance. In order to provide the best standards of care, my staff need to be well-supported, feel valued and have the ability to drive and develop their careers. If they feel fulfilled and recognised in their roles here, they will do a great job for the people who call Woodland Grove home. Resident wellbeing is our common goal, and to this end I support and guide my team to provide the highest standards possible. I believe that we should always remember

that we are guests in our residents’ home and with this in mind we should behave with respect and care at all times. We should also be flexible enough to adapt to suit residents’ changing needs

Judges’ comments

Although the calibre of finalist presented them with a difficult choice, “one stood out as she identified that her staff were as important as her residents, and to provide good care, staff needed to be looked after as well.”

“Hazel is healthcare professional, a humanitarian with a passion for fairness and quality in care. She believes leadership is about bringing people together to combine, talent, enthusiasm and inspiration.”

Interview with Hazel McGwyne, Woodland Grove, Oakland Care

We Care Group believes that the Care and Support team are some of the hardest working people in the world. They are the heart of the home and community.

That is why we provide all our staff with the support and tools they need to do their job. We are aiming to be the employer of choice in the coming years.

Currently, Group is rated 4.6 on Indeed and our CEO has a 92% approval rating.

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Our company’s vision is to become the employer of choice. For more information go to wecaregroup.co.uk

WINNER

Sherry Mills, ECL Marylands Day Centre

ECL’s Marylands older people’s day service supports over 50 customers in the Colchester area, 90% of whom have dementia diagnoses.

Service manager Sherry Mills has been instrumental in making ECL Marylands a welcoming and friendly day service by spearheading some amazing changes to improve the customer experience.

From a major building makeover and investment in new equipment, to the introduction of carer days to strengthen relationships with carers and families, as well as hosting regular open days to connect customers and their relatives with the local community, Sherry has transformed Marylands to make it an outstanding, dementia-friendly home from home. Under her management, the centre is now on track to achieving its Gold accreditation from the University of Stirling Dementia Services Development Centre.

Speaking of the win, Sherry said: “I am so thrilled to have won the ‘Dementia Care Manager’ award. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved here at Marylands in the last two years. We have an amazing team at this service and this win is testament to their commitment to providing person-centred care and delivering excellent dementia support to our customers and their loved ones.”

Sherry and her team support customers like the late Shirley Hawes, who attended ECL Marylands until she sadly passed

away in November. Shirley’s husband John said: “As far as I’m concerned Sherry has made Marylands the great place it is today. I can’t express enough how Sherry’s expertise in dementia care has improved things. She’s so deserving of this award; I’ve never come across anyone like her at all – she’s one in a million. Her door is always open and she always has time for me if I need to discuss anything. She’s got a heart of gold and really cares about people, and it shows in everything she’s done for the centre. I’m so grateful for all the help Sherry gave me and my late wife Shirley.”

Watch John and Shirley’s story: youtu. be/cvYg-LeKoZk or take a tour of ECL Marylands with Sherry herself: youtube. com/watch?v=9norTzVU4w4

About ECL

ECL (Essex Cares Limited) was established by Essex County Council in 2009 as the UK’s first local authority trading company, providing care and support in Southeast England for residents at home and in local communities. With more than 1,200 employees, ECL supports over 46,000 people each year to live independent and fulfilling lives and is rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. See: ecl.org

Make someone’s day, everyday.

WINNER

Care Operations/ Area Manager

Dave Ankers,

Regional Director at Care UK

Stadium, community cake sales, musical events, walking, and even a 400-mile cycle ride – to raise a total of £43,000.

Care UK is one of the largest providers of residential care for older people in the UK, with 152 homes. Over 8,000 families trust us to deliver the best services, from nursing care to residential, palliative and specialist dementia care. We offer permanent and respite care, and some of our services offer day clubs for older people living independently in the community. Many residents live with complex needs.

Dave is passionate about the care of residents and employees alike. He strikes the right balance between encouraging autonomy, supporting the team to develop the services with new ideas, initiatives and products, all while guiding his team members. He has created a peer-to-peer support programme for new managers and other heads of department, and ensures inductions are carried out in sister homes.

In 2022, Care UK celebrated its fourth decade of providing award-winning care. To acknowledge 40 years since the opening of its first care home, Haven Lodge in September 1982, teams took take part in a ‘40 days of giving back’ campaign by organising fundraising activities and challenges to support charities in their communities. Team members and residents in our homes across the UK organised challenges and fun events, from abseiling down the O2

The quality of the care we provide is at the heart of everything we do and remains our highest priority. 87% of our care homes are rated Good or Outstanding and have the highest regulatory compliance of any large provider. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have also continued to see good satisfaction scores from relatives, with over 93% of people reporting their satisfaction with our approach to managing the pandemic. 97% of residents say ‘staff treat me with kindness, dignity and respect’.

All homes within Dave’s region are rated as either Good or Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. Since starting

in the role in August 2020, Dave has supported two of his homes to improve to Outstanding, while another has been rated internally as Outstanding across all five domains.

Every one of our 12,500-plus colleagues is fundamental to the care we deliver. We firmly believe in the importance of investing in our people. Our training and development programmes have been recognised as sector-leading.

Care UK has opened 55 care homes since 2013 and has plans to open another 13 homes over the next three years. In 2021, Care UK was also selected to take over the leadership and management of 26 homes which were formerly part of Sunrise Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare.

Dave Ankers, Regional Director at Care UK, won the ‘National Care Award for Care Operations’.

WINNER

Care Activities Co-ordinator

Emily Carver, Maycroft Manor Care Home, Hallmark Care Homes

Industry-leading care provider, Hallmark Care Homes was the proud recipient of the ‘Care Activities Co-ordinator’ award at this year’s prestigious event.

Emily Carver-Prue, who works at Maycroft Manor Care Home in Brighton, East Sussex was awarded the title, out of eight noteworthy finalists.

The judges remarked that Emily “offered diverse, focused activities that are designed to improve residents’ quality of life”.

Emily who has worked at the residential, dementia and nursing home since 2018, said: “Winning this award means a great deal, not only to me personally, but also my team, residents and families. I have worked in care for four years after a long career in education. I always say this is the best job I’d never heard of.

“The best part of my job is not the big things like winning awards, creating huge artist trails, flying kites at Devil’s Dyke, or organising reindeers to visit, it’s the small things. It’s seeing someone who has spent months isolated in hospital or at home with freshly cut hair enjoying a mimosa in the garden, it’s families telling me they’ve got their mum/dad/partner back after a long time struggling to care for them at home.

“People see going into care as the end of the road, the last chapter in their life, but I love that our lifestyles team can provide opportunities for everyone so that it can

actually be a new beginning, of learning new things and making new friendships and living life to the full.”

Hallmark’s head of dementia care and wellbeing April Dobson added: “Emily is an absolute delight. She draws on her background in the arts to connect with people in different ways, and to provide an outlet for expression and creativity. Her kindness, patience, understanding and considerable skills are treasured by all who meet her, and she takes time to truly get to know each individual. I cannot think of a more deserving winner of this award.”

The esteemed win follows on from Emily’s success at the 2022 National Dementia Care Awards where she awarded ‘Best

Activity Provider/Lifestyle Lead’. She was also awarded the ‘Lifestyle Leader of the Year’ award at Hallmark’s company-wide team recognition event, the Hallmark Awards which took place in September 2022.

Maycroft Manor is part of Hallmark Care Homes, an established familyrun care provider that has three Care Quality Commission-rated Outstanding homes. It provides residential, nursing and dementia care to 1,200 residents across 19 locations in England and Wales and has won 100 awards over the past 10 years. For further information about Hallmark Care Homes and to search its latest recruitment opportunities visit: hallmarkcarehomes.co.uk

WINNER

Care Housekeeper

Industry-leading care provider Hallmark Care Homes scooped the ‘Care Housekeeper’ award at this year’s National Care Awards, in addition to the ‘Care Activities Co-ordinator’ accolade.

Fe Harris who works at Ty Enfys Care Home in Pentwyn, Cardiff was awarded the prestigious title, out of six noteworthy finalists.

The judges remarked that “Fe comes across as somebody who really operates outside her realm as a housekeeper and is involved in various different functions within the home.”

Meanwhile her colleagues who nominated her said: “She knows each resident inside out, their likes and dislikes, and makes sure their rooms are looking as they want and with what they want. She cares for them like no other, watering their plants, bringing in seasonal decorations to make people smile, sitting and reading a newspaper with them. She truly does go above and beyond, each and every day.’

Fe who has worked at the residential, dementia and nursing home since 2015 and looks after 21 residential rooms, said: “Winning this award means so much to me. Being able to enhance the lives of residents at Ty Enfys, is a joy for me each day and so to be recognised for this means a lot. I have been working in care for nearly eight years now and the best part is seeing the residents every day and helping to make their day the best it can be.”

General manager at Ty Enfys Care Home, Sujjata Singh said: “Fe is one of the many outstanding team members who works behind the scenes making a difference to the life and wellbeing of residents. I am so proud that she has been awarded this prestigious award. Well done Fe.”

A resident at Ty Enfys, Robert Healey added: “Fe is a very polite and friendly lady. She’ll do anything to be helpful and will always go out of her way for you. Fe brightens my day; she is like a rainbow and the sunshine smiling down.”

Ty Enfys provides residential, nursing and dementia care and has a 9.8 out of 10

review score on the UK’s leading care home review website, carehome.co.uk. Its facilities include a warm and homely café, an industry-leading cinema room and a luxurious hairdressers and therapy room. Ty Enfys is part of Hallmark Care Homes, an established family-run care provider that has three Care Quality Commissionrated Outstanding homes. Hallmark Care Homes provides residential, nursing and dementia care to 1,200 residents across 19 locations in England and Wales and has won 100 awards over the past 10 years. For further information about Hallmark Care Homes and to search its latest recruitment opportunities visit: hallmarkcarehomes.co.uk

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WINNER

Chef

Bourne View is a large residential and nursing care home in Poole, Dorset, opened in 2019 as Colten Care’s 21st home in the South of England. Lorna Parsons is the chef at Bourne View, creating mouth-watering nutritious dishes for up to 72 residents and 30 staff a day.

Over the years, Lorna has been a dedicated, hard-working and professional chef with a cheeky sense of humour and a positive outlook. She is crucial to life at Bourne View and the residents wouldn’t be without her.

Lorna first started working for Colten Care in 1998, at the age of just 14, as a parttime waitress. In 2002, Lorna became Colten Care’s first apprentice chef, and continued her culinary education from there which includes an NVQ Level 2 in nutrition and an advanced diploma in patisserie and confectionary.

Lorna is enjoying the taste of triumph after being crowned ‘Chef of the Year’ at the prestigious National Care Awards 2022. She said: “My heart was beating so hard in my chest as the awards presenter read out the nominees. Then when they announced I had won it was just an absolutely fantastic feeling!

“I was with Colten Care’s hotel services manager Fergus Davitt, who gave me my first job here 25 years ago. I was just absolutely thrilled to do it for him and everyone else at Colten who have been such a huge support to me and my career.”

Fergus added: “This award is so richly deserved. Lorna shows immense dedication in all she does each and every day and I am so proud of her.

“I know she’ll be anxious to show the trophy off to all the residents and is already planning to put it on display in our reception at Bourne View so everyone can

enjoy it. That’s the kind of person she is.”

Elaine Farrer, Colten Care’s chief operating officer, said: “The whole company is immensely proud of Lorna and I felt privileged to be there to see her win and share her joy. I know her residents, who adore her as a person, as well as their chef, will also be thrilled with her success.”

WINNER

The Sara Berrio Care Champion

James Samson, Sanctuary Care Shaun Moore, Home Instead South Lakes

James – our Sanctuary Care hero.

Everyone at Sanctuary Care is so proud of James Samson, who was genuinely shocked to win ‘The Sara Berrio Care Champion’ award.

Maintenance operative James is a champion in the hearts of everyone who meets him at Mull Hall Care Home in Invergordon. What makes him so special is his modesty – he has no concept of how he truly enriches the lives of everyone around him, bringing joy to his residents and being a rock for his colleagues.

In his nomination, James was described as a “hero”, a “saviour” and a “gentleman”. One relative described him as having a “gift”, adding: “Unsung heroes are generally the glue that holds everything together, the background people who quietly make a difference to all our lives, and they deserve to be lauded and applauded. James is just such a person.”

One of the highlights from his nomination revealed how James had successfully supported a new resident, who struggled with alcohol addiction, to abstain from alcohol. James supported this gentleman’s recovery by encouraging him to help with jobs around Mull Hall, like painting and decorating, which he has absolutely loved. This resident’s recovery has been remarkable. He is now able to move into his own home, which needed some attention to spruce it up. Sacrificing his

own time, James has volunteered his days off doing maintenance and decoration work, getting the resident’s home ready for move-in day.

James always puts his residents first. If he’s busy at work and sees that a resident needs support, he will drop everything because, in his words: “Our residents’ happiness and their wellbeing is the most important thing. I look at my residents like a big, giant extended family.”

James does so many other thoughtful things – he will come into the home in his spare time to make beautiful birthday cakes for the residents, or run a barbecue for a special celebration. He will stop what he’s doing to take another resident who loves the sea down to the beach in his wheelchair. He has even drawn up new garden designs for the home, featuring special areas chosen by the residents, like a bee garden with wildflowers, and space for private family barbecues. These designs won Sanctuary Care’s garden design competition earlier in 2022, and will be transformed into a reality for the residents.

Quite simply James is an inspiration to us all and we couldn’t be prouder.

Shaun Moore

Home Instead South Lakes is based in South Cumbria in the Lake District. Husband and wife team, Will and Judy Clay started the home care business in

2018 with a simple personal pledge that we must provide the type of care that we would want for our own loved ones –nothing less. We provide the high-quality care that we believe everyone has the right to receive. We are very proud to be rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission and our wonderful clients’ testimonials has meant that we are rated 9.9 on homecare.co.uk.

Shaun joined us in September 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Shaun previously worked in retail but wanted to do a job that is rewarding and where he had the opportunity to give something back to people in our community. Home Instead only employs care professionals who have the same ethos as us, and that’s to be genuinely caring and compassionate, treating our clients as they would treat members of their own family.

Shaun is an amazing care professional who always goes the extra mile. For instance, during Storm Arwen, which caused havoc in our community, he couldn’t get to a client’s house as a tree was blocking the way, but he abandoned his car and walked through a forest and streams to get there. When he eventually got to his client’s home, he made sure his client had enough food and blankets as he was without electricity for days.

More recently he has helped a client move to a new home in a totally new area. He again has gone above and beyond by moving all his furniture and helped settle him in, in his own time. He has helped

James Samson

liaise with social workers and the client’s family and introduced him to community support groups and different places to help him settle in his new surroundings. He’s built a fantastic relationship with him and the client is now happy in his new home. Without Shaun we truly believe this wouldn’t have happened.

Shaun also finds the time to run

WINNER

James Samson, Sanctuary Care

Shaun Moore, Home Instead South Lakes

community support groups called ‘Ronnie Gardiner Method’. RGM is a multisensory exercise therapy for people with conditions of the brain as well as for healthy ageing. Some of the conditions in the group include stroke, MS, COPD and other neurological conditions. The method uses music, rhythm, sound and movement codes to help stimulate neuroplasticity in the brain. There have

been some fantastic outcomes from their groups including increased motor function, improved memory, improved concentration and focus, improved balance and an improved sense of wellbeing.

Shaun really is an amazing man with a heart of gold who always wants the best for his clients and always puts them first.

James Samson Shaun Moore

Sponsored by Caring Homes

WINNER

Hale Place Care Homes has been a celebrated family-run provider since 1988, with the sole intention of providing a service that ‘improves’ the lives of vulnerable people living with dementia. Setting out this one clear objective that everyone in the organisation understands, creates a solid foundation from which a caring service can flourish.

We believe it is vitally important to embed the reason why we chose our vocation into one’s psyche and to remind ourselves how valuable and important we are to the people we support. At Hale Place, we are all here for the same purpose which is to help people thrive, to hear laughter and see tears of joy, no matter

what challenges might be bestowed upon people. But we are also here to enjoy our work, our colleagues and we feel a sense of real value and belonging which is why the company’s core value is ‘happy lives for everyone’. We are a strong ‘family’ unit striving for excellence and to be the best we can be as individuals and teams.

To reach the summit in any profession requires an engine room which is running smoothly, constantly being updated and modernised and has an unbreakable drive shaft. We are blessed with a multi-awardwinning management team that keeps achieving, that embraces new technology, that works smart and is a titanium unit. While the team have achieved countless

individual and team recognitions over the past 35 years, the most rewarding feedback is the daily smile and love we receive from the people we support.

Consistently improving and delivering beyond people’s expectations takes incredible commitment and focus by every single employee; there must be stability and a core of hardened professionals determined to bring joy back into the lives of people. Hale Place is blessed with an unbreakable core (40%) of fully trained, qualified care professionals who have been with the organisation for over 10 years. It is because of these outstanding employees that Hale Place currently has more than 100 exemplary reviews across social media and websites. What organisation can state they have never had one negative review in 35 years of operation? Not only has Hale Place never had anything but outstanding feedback from its customers, health professionals and visitors, but the provider has also received the highest accolades from regulators since 1988.

We believe, as do all the people we have supported over 35 years, that Hale Place stands alone in achieving exemplary outcomes for people and that its model of care is the most inclusive, supportive and uplifting, leading to fulfilled lives for everyone and extending life expectancy for those living with dementia. The ‘Care Home of the Year’ award is recognition from our peers that Hale Place continues to bring sunshine into the lives of others.

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WINNER

Megan Harding, Carr Gate Care Home

Megan Harding, a bank worker at HCOne’s Carr Gate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, a 59-bed residential, nursing and residential dementia care home, was triumphant in being announced as the winner of the ‘Care Newcomer’ award category at the National Care Awards 2022.

Megan was nominated by Carr Gate’s home manager, Amy Brown, as Megan is a hardworking, engaging, kind and caring young adult who has shown commitment and a wonderful passion for her career development.

Megan joined the team at Carr Gate at 16 years old with no previous experience of working in a care setting, but showed that she desperately wanted to work in

care. Due to her age, she was unable to be a care assistant but instead has shown true care, commitment and dedication in many other roles within the home. Megan has worked as a housekeeper, kitchen assistant, wellbeing coordinator, receptionist and Covid coordinator in her seven months of working at the care home.

As a housekeeper and kitchen assistant, Megan has ensured the cleanliness of the home, following procedures, using the correct cleaning products, ensuring paperwork has been fully completed and has engaged with residents, learning and getting to know them while completing her tasks, always showing respect when entering their rooms and in their surroundings.

In her many roles, Megan has been responsible for being the first point of contact to professionals, relatives and residents coming through the doors of the care home. As a receptionist and Covid coordinator, Megan answers the phone, guides visitors to where they need to be, has ensured Covid-19 procedures have been fully followed by all visitors, updated the home’s Covid-19 app, logged colleague testing, registered PCR tests for the whole home, held resident meetings, completed stock checks of PPE in the home, typed monthly newsletters, booked visits and shared messages with members of the team.

It is clear for all to see the passion Megan has for caring for residents at Carr Gate and she interacts with them all in a calming, caring and respectful way that shows this is not just a role to her but a true calling.

Megan said: “I am thrilled to have won at the National Care Awards. I love working at Carr Gate and this is such a great achievement.”

Amy Brown, care home manager at Carr Gate Care Home, added: “The whole team are so proud of Megan for this fantastic achievement, winning at the National Care Awards is an accolade to all her hard work. She is a great asset to the team and has the residents’ best interests at heart. We are so lucky to have her working in our home.”

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We take a holistic approach to living well, so we’ve also brought together specialist caring teams to look after a range of other important services including hospitality, activities, dining and more. We work hard to recruit and train only the best people, who share the values that underpin our homes.

We’d love to welcome you into our home to meet the team, our residents and view our luxury facilities.

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WINNER

The Close Care Home

Since we received an Outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission across all five key lines of enquiry we have been regarded as the go to home locally. However the ethos of The Close is to share and learn from each other. Therefore, when we create, innovate and develop, we share via our place on the board of The Outstanding Society, which is a community interest company and free to use. We work with Oxfordshire County Council and have developed a chef club and training programme to support homes with the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI). The Close is a voice for celebrating social care and creativity. For example, we share our ideas on clothing protectors. The guide to make them is up on our website for free.

The Close is known for its mealtimes and has supported Oxfordshire County Council and Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers with our chef club, teaching other homes on the way we produce and serve creative and ingenious IDDSI meals for every meal and with like-for-like options, offering like-for-like parity at mealtimes

We reflected on mealtimes and we reflected on clothing protectors. Well, we say clothing protectors, but boiled wool, plaid bibs is closer to what they were, and frankly there’s no dignity in an adult wearing a bib. So we decided to find an in-house, custom-made option. One of our beyond-talented laundry team loves to sew, so we purchased her a new sewing machine and came up with a crazy idea. Imagine taking real clothes and turning

them into clothing proctors! We sourced some specialist backing and took shirts and tops, cut out the shapes, backed them and created our own.

These are displayed on a simple wallmounted rail in our dining rooms and residents are presented with a choice, the one they would like to wear at mealtimes, should they need them. Residents go out with our activities team to shop for the clothing items and select them – making them totally co-produced. As they are custom-made we have a range with options for morning, noon and night. The best bit is, residents can dine with family, friends and stakeholders and

truly appear as if they are wearing an item of ‘regular’ clothing, instilling them with confidence and ultimately dignity, resulting in residents being their best selves at mealtimes.

Furthermore, as they are custom-made, we make them in various sizes to ensure residents who live with bariatric needs have wider ones that offer more coverage and in turn they protect their clothes. Having a larger frame myself, the little ones weren’t doing a thing! So, I know when the time comes, I will be wearing something fun which will make me feel myself when I want to share a meal with my loved ones.

YOUR CAREER YOUR CHOICE

We offer a wide variety of rewarding careers in our family of care homes across England, Scotland and Wales.

From Care Assistants and Nurses to Chefs and Home Administrators, we have a large choice of roles available for all levels of experience. By joining our team, your kindness will be rewarded with enhanced rates of pay that progress with experience.

There will also be plenty of support from our learning and development team who are here to help you grow and develop along your journey with us.

rewarding career opportunities at your local care home

Pay that progresses with your experience

WINNER

Care Home Design of the Year

Northstar Projects was originally established in 2007 as a specialist consultancy offering town planning, architectural design and project management services solely to the elderly care industry. The two directors, Danny Sharpe and Ian Holmes, provide a ‘hands on’ approach to all care home development projects, with Danny providing the architectural design and town planning service and Ian offering technical advice and project management.

We have been champions of the ‘Household model of care’ for many years and produced a number of scheme designs for a range of operators along these lines. This approach offers:

• Care Homes which are thoughtfully designed to take account of their surroundings as domestic scale buildings giving a ‘finer grain’ of development than large institutional blocks

• An emphasis on providing the right environment with opportunities for social interaction in domestic settings. This enables a more ‘normal’ lifestyle to be enjoyed by residents and carers alike

• Use of a range of (non-intrusive) assistive technology approaches designed to be enabling rather than disabling

• Schemes which have built-in natural surveillance opportunities for staff to keep residents safe without the need for intrusive security measures

• Good design – creating places to sit and enjoy a view to avoid the sense of frustration suffered by residents with short-term memory loss who might otherwise have no opportunity to venture outside

• Design which has a ‘sense of place’, offering bespoke building designs to fit their environments. For a person to feel ‘at home’ it’s important that we understand what that means in their particular context. In simple terms, if a new care home is intended to cater for residents from a dense urban neighbourhood of tightly packed Victorian terraced houses, a care home will be familiar and recognisable if it is built with a pitched and tiled roof with a central front door flanked by bay windows to the bedrooms and living rooms. This could be the sort of building that would evoke memories of ‘home’ and is more likely to become a place

of refuge for someone who is starting to suffer from the stress of memory loss and diminished cognitive ability.

Winning the ‘Care Home Design of the Year’ award for our design for Copelands in Northern Ireland at the National Care Awards this year is testament to the ‘Household model of care’ approach Northstar takes to all of our projects. It also follows on from our success earlier in the year at the Healthcare Design Awards where we again won Best Architectural Design for another of our recent ‘Household model of care’ projects in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

For further information see: northstarprojects.com or contact: Danny Sharpe at: danny@northstar-projects.com (07887 796 966) or Ian Holmes at: ian@northstarprojects.com (07884 435 322).

WINNER

Community Integrated Care is one of Britain’s biggest and most successful social care charities, supporting more than 3,000 people who have learning disabilities, autism, mental health concerns, dementia and complex care needs to lead the best life possible.

At the National Care Awards 2022, the charity celebrated winning the ‘Best Business Initiative’ award, for its innovative online activity platform WhatTo-Do.co.uk.

Created to give people who access care and support the opportunity to learn, discover new skills, have fun and connect with others, ‘What To Do’ offers free live accessible activity sessions every day, in partnership with leading sports, cultural and community groups, for people who access care and support in their daily lives. Recognising that many individuals want

fuller lives live in communities that can lack quality activity provision, for example, in remote and rural communities, or where cost is a barrier, What To Do’s expert provision is accessible and free to all.

The site offers creative arts, reminiscence and social photography classes with leading organisations such as Age Exchange, PE and sports sessions with the Premier League Champions’ Charitable Foundation (Man City in the Community), dance and games with Rugby League’s finest clubs Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves, and even a Saturday night disco. There have also been special guest events enabling fans to meet their heroes, including WWE wrestlers, bake-off stars, rappers, footballers and celebrity dancers – this is a website like no other.

Tackling inequalities that people with learning disabilities are at greater risks

of facing, such as isolation, loneliness and inactive lifestyles, this initiative positively promotes social connection, real engagement, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to adhere to a variety of interests.

Praised for its provision of care and support excellence through harnessing technology to create fulfilling opportunities and change lives, What To Do’s online events have reached more than 12,400 people with learning disabilities and autism over the past 12 months, working tirelessly to provide what has often become a lifeline for people during lockdown, and are now an important part of daily routines.

The charity has also developed a wealth of educational and fun resources to benefit carers and the people they support, including resources to support arts, recycling, exercising and voting, available to download from the site.

Sessions are specially designed to be adaptable and can enrich the activity repertoire of paid and family carers, and subtly help to educate people to understand the principles of active support. Importantly, the sessions are social and have a ‘club feel’ and coproduction is essential to this. People with learning disabilities help to guide its strategic direction, influencing design and delivery.

Business Initiative Sponsored by Sanctuary Care 30

We’ve proudly rolled out our Enriching Lives framework, which helps residents like Ron, who coaches children’s rugby, to achieve their goals.

Based on external research we’ve commissioned, complemented by an existing study based on the six senses people need to feel truly happy, the framework helps us work together so our residents can live life to the full.

for more information visit sanctuary-care.co.uk

WINNER

Sanjay Dhrona, The Close Care Home Leadership

In seven years, Sanjay's journey in social care has been a complete roller coaster. Leaving a career in hospitality and events, he took over a once great care home, faced with two embargoes, two warning notices and an Inadequate rating. The Close Care Home now has an Outstanding rating and counts titles like ‘Care Home of Year’, ‘Best Individual Care Home’ and ‘Small Care Provider of the Year’ among its many accolades. Sanjay is a passionate advocate of sharing knowledge and best practice in social care.

The social care industry is misunderstood. People generally have archaic and outdated paradigms, cliches and stereotypes of social care and it is these very reasons which display the importance of engaging with care homes and the whole adult care sector. At The Close we have been able through good leadership to foster a culture where we want to celebrate the everyday and ensure that our residents live at the close and are active and engage in the lives.

Leadership at The Close is about ensuring that every member of the team is confident in their impact on the residents’ daily lives, which are filled with care, compassion and confidence.

The Close leadership model allows for involvement and inclusion in the process, making sure that our Close family are on the journey with us, making that journey as cohesive, exciting and joyous as the destination.

WINNER

Hengoed Court - Hengoed Park, Hengoed Care

A strong team effort has achieved a significant reduction in hospital conveyances from Hengoed Care, winners of this year’s ‘Team’ award at this year’s National Care Awards

The award means a lot to the staff and management at Hengoed Care because teamwork underpins everything they do. Hengoed Care consists of two neighbouring care homes: Hengoed Court with 107 resident rooms, and Hengoed Park with 149 resident rooms. Some 277 staff work across these facilities and they all pull together to make sure that residents receive the best possible care.

A recent example of this was Hengoed Care’s groundbreaking initiative to reduce the number of residents being conveyed to hospital and enable residents to remain at Hengoed Care as much as possible.

The idea for the initiative came from staff, and Hengoed Care’s lead nurses created an SBARD (situation-backgroundassessment-recommendation-decision) communication tool to enhance communication with GPs, GP out of hours, and the Wales Ambulance Service Trust. This was coupled with soft signs training to help the whole team spot signs of deterioration.

“This project saw engagement from staff at every level within our care home and from outside professionals,” says Hengoed Care manager Nicola Williams. “As a result of this excellent teamwork, more residents get to be cared for in their trusted, familiar

environment when their health worsens.”

Karen Gronet, deputy group nurse director, Primary, Community and Therapies Group for the University Health Board, says she is delighted to have taken part in the project – and to see its success recognised.

“I am really pleased that the Primary, Community and Therapies Service Group, Swansea Bay University Health Board, in conjunction with Hengoed Care and Improvement Cymru, were able to support this important and innovative project,” she says.

“Helping to ensure the voice of residents is heard and acted upon is vital to ensure care is provided in the best place for the individual. This project demonstrated how a simple communication tool can empower staff, open dialogue and create professional conversations, which impacted positively on the treatment plan

for the older person. The value of this project, along with the ability to easily replicate the communication tool and training packages, provides potential for other care homes to benefit also.

“We are delighted that this project has been acknowledged and its success rewarded. As a service group we look forward to working with the care home in the future, as other pieces of work develop from this project.”

For the Hengoed Care team, the award couldn’t come at a better time.

“After all the challenges of Covid, it acknowledges not just the easily visible achievements, but also all those unseen things the staff have done on a daily basis to make sure residents are safe and cared for,” says Hengoed Care manager Tim Williams. “We want to say a massive congratulations to the whole team.”

Where care matters

At Barchester we’re proud of the high level of care the teams in our homes provide to families across the UK.

We believe every person should be treated as an individual, with tailored care provided in supportive surroundings.

That’s why we get to know each person and always have their comfort, well-being and happiness in mind.

To find out more about the care we provide in over 250 care homes and hospitals, visit: Barchester.com

Nursing

Residential

Dementia

Respite

Proud to be celebrating 30 years of care.

WINNER

Karolina is a former care worker who spent 12 years supporting people in their own homes before becoming a leader in the sector. She has been CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity since 2020.

She represents the workforce at every opportunity, as a member of multiple advisory boards and as part of the leadership team for IMPACT, the UK centre for implementing evidence in adult social care. She is passionate about social care and social justice and never misses a chance to advocate for care workers.

She is also very passionate about women’s rights and working to drive social change. Karolina is regularly invited to events, conferences and policy forums to act as a voice for care workers and raise awareness of their undervalued hard work. She wants to see care workers recognised for the skills and expertise they have as social care professionals, the amazing work they do every day, and great contributions they make to the economy and our society.

Karolina's work for The Care Workers’ Charity has put her in front of the UK’s media many times with her compassionate, concise, and informative drive to improve life for many underrepresented and under supported people in society. This influence has undoubtedly made a mark on the sector and awareness of it in the public eye.

Karolina is not only an incredible leader for The Care Worker’s Charity but for the sector itself. Her passion for all that is

right and fair is infectious and encourages others to join the cause to improve social care for all who work in it, resulting in better social care for those who draw on it. At The Care Workers’ Charity, she has been leading a dedicated team to support care workers through times of crisis by supplying financial support, signposting to resources, and providing access to services.

Karolina has grown the charity significantly over the past few years both in terms of the amount they pay in grants to care workers and their workforce advocacy programme. She is continually making the link between financial support, staff retention and quality of care. By helping care workers to overcome crisis and continue to work in the sector, the charity also supports those who draw on social care services.

Karolina is passionate about garnering

widespread support for the charity so that they can continue to support care workers and support the social care sector.

Care workers are among the lowest-paid workers in the UK and yet they play such a vital role in our ageing society. Through her influencing work Karolina aims to promote parity of esteem with health, campaign and raise awareness of social care, and provide insight into the issues affecting care workers.

Karolina is a firm believer that social care is everyone’s responsibility.

Her leadership of The Care Workers’ Charity comes at an important time and their grants have supported many care workers to stay in the sector when times get tough. Her dedication to the cause has enabled the charity to grow year on year since she started – an impressive record that she hopes to maintain into the future.

Care Home Group Under 10 Settings

Stow Healthcare Group

Stow Healthcare Group is delighted to have been named ‘Care Home Group of the Year –Under 10 Settings’ at this year’s National Care Awards.

Stow Healthcare is an East Anglia-based, family-run group that is making the industry sit up and take notice. In only 12 years, Stow Healthcare has moved from an inexperienced start-up, to a multiaward-winning group that has only grown in reputation and confidence through the pandemic. With eight homes in its portfolio, Stow Healthcare has become known as the industry ‘disrupter’ that can turn around the most difficult homes to create beacons of quality care within the community.

There is significant competition locally in each area in which we operate. There are high numbers of outstanding homes in our locality, which makes it even more important that we stand out. How do we do this? In three key ways:

1. We are family-owned and family-run. When you are surrounded by big, faceless corporates, we can offer the benefit of accountability and oversight, which people find a comfort.

2. We provide consistent and quality staffing – we don’t rely on e-learning, but train people face-to-face which means we are able to provide better care, from staff who are supported in their career journey with us, some going from carers to managers over the past decade.

3. We give our residents a reason to get out of bed each day – none of us are anything without purpose and joy in our lives – and our residents are no different. Whether people are relearning to butter their own toast, shave or make a cup of tea, it’s the little things that count.

We are courageous innovators who have not stood still during the pandemic. In a crisis, you can choose to ask ‘Why me?’ or you can say ‘Watch me!’ – at Stow Healthcare we have done the latter. One of our key goals in the past 12 months has been not to let the pandemic define us – we have moved forward with new and exciting projects such as Career Cafes to support our staff and help them shape

their career ambitions, and to promote retention in our homes.

We have also been trailblazers for better pay in the Eastern region, being the second care home group in the area to bring in the Real Living Wage and working actively to promote this within the sector through articles in the industry press. Our passion for quality and innovation is what drives our success.

In 2023, we want to carry on demonstrating that there is a different way of doing things in social care, and when you do it differently, with real passion and verve, and with people at the heart of what you do, you can succeed and change lives.

WINNER

Porthaven Care Homes

Here at Porthaven we were thrilled to be awarded ‘Best Care Home Group – Over 10 Settings’ at the 24th National Care Awards on Saturday 26 November.

Members of our team from across the country were in attendance at the ceremony and were delighted to be invited on stage to accept the award and share in this monumental achievement. We were also incredibly honoured to be nominated in three other categories, which were ‘Best Care Operations/Area Manager’ for our regional director Sue Astill, ‘Best Care Activities Co-ordinator’ for our leisure and wellness co-ordinator Alex Samson at Thirlestaine Park in Cheltenham, and ‘Best Care Team’ for Wiltshire Heights in Bradford-on-Avon.

“Our chief executive John Storey has commented: “Since we opened our first care home in 2010, our goal has been

to build a portfolio of remarkable homes where the care provided is matched by first-rate facilities, compassionate staff and exceptional living environments that enhance the wellbeing of every one of our residents. I am elated that 12 years later this objective is still being fulfilled and that the hard work of every member of the Porthaven team has been recognised by such a distinguished awarding body. I am sincerely grateful to everybody who has made this achievement possible.”

At Porthaven we are no stranger to awards and accolades. Earlier this year we celebrated winning ‘Best Interior Design’ at the prestigious Pinders Healthcare Design Awards for our Upton Mill Care Home in Tetbury. This goes alongside our 2020 Pinders award for ‘Best Specialist Dementia Design’ for our care home Falkland Grange in Newbury. This year we were also recognised as a top 20-rated

mid-size care home group by carehome. co.uk, the sector’s leading care home comparison website, for the seventh consecutive year.

The Porthaven Care Homes Group comprises 18 homes throughout England, each of which has been designed by leading care home architects and designers. Every one of our homes is fitted with multiple restaurants, lounges and communal rooms, as well as a fully equipped hairdressing salon and a private dining room for those special family celebrations. Many of our homes also include a spacious home cinema and a state-of-the-art gym. We pride ourselves on our beautifully designed homes that are run professionally, responsibly and, most importantly, with integrity and care. In 2023 we look forward to bringing our exceptional standard of care to Maidstone, Kent, with the opening of our nineteenth care home, Cavell Park.

Christie & Co are proud to once again support the Care Awards. We would like to pass congratulations to all of the finalists and winners.

Christie & Co are proud to once again support the Care Awards. We would like to pass congratulations to all of the finalists and winners.

Lifetime Achievement

Victoria Sylvester, Acacia Training

JUDGES

Mala Agarwal

Nadra Ahmed

Nuno Almeida

Craig Ambler

Jon Chapman

Sanjay Dhrona

Carole Edmond

Elaine Farrer

Alex Ball

Joanne Balmer

Karolina Gerlich Bhavna Keane-Rao

Caroline Barker

Thomas Brandrick

Sam Leighton-Smith

Richard Lunn

Andy Porter

Graham Stokes

Mark Topps

Christie & Co are proud to once again support the Care Awards. We would like to pass congratulations to all of the finalists and winners.