On Saturday 15th October the International Convention Centre, Birmingham, provided a spectacular backdrop for the finals of this the third Great West Midlands Care Awards, where the twenty category winners were announced.

The Great West Midlands Care Awards, who’s principal sponsor is h.e.t. software are supported by the Department of Health.  The awards are  part of the Great British Care Awards, a series of regional awards which celebrates excellence in social care and pay tribute to those who work in the sector throughout England.  The awards are all inclusive, bringing together the statutory, independent and voluntary sectors, as well as unpaid carers; promoting joint working.

The Great West Midlands Care Awards have received nominations and support from all corners of the sector. Sector support includes the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), the National Skills Academy for Social Care, Skills for Care, Ceretas and the English Community Care Association.  Local Authority support and commercial organisations are also supporting the awards.  Care Talk magazine is the media partner.

There were a total of twenty 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, specialist care in areas such as dementia and innovation.

Nominations came in from all corners of the sector and the region and successful candidates invited for interview for infront of a panel of sector experts.  Thegala award evening started in style with a champagne reception, followed by a superb gourmet dinner and the awards presentation with Alison Hammond, entertainment from all girl group electric string quartet Asteria and dancing into the night.

Winners from the awards will be invited to attend the national finals for either the home care or care home sector which will take place in May and June 2012 at a prestigious venue in London.

The awards support a chosen charity, The Care Professionals Benevolent Fund is the registered charity for the Care Sector and are here to support current, former and retired care professionals, by providing assistance to relieve financial hardship or sickness.

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

“We are delighted to be staging the Great West Midlands Care Awards for the third time. The care awards are going from strength to strength with this year’s regional events.  The support from sector partners has been overwhelming and the quality and sheer nominations has been astounding.

These awards recognise and pay tribute to the efforts and dedication of all those who work tirelessly to ensure that so many people are able to live independent lives in their own home. They are the perfect showcase to reflect on best practice in the social care sector. A sector where people truly dedicate themselves to their work and take pride in their achievements.

The people of the West Midlands are incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated people caring for the vulnerable and elderly members of their communities. Congratulations to everyone this evening – everyone here is a winner!”

The winners of the Great West Midlands Care Awards, together with the judges comments are detailed below:

 

The Care Employer Award – More than 250 Employees

 

Sevacare UK Ltd, Wolverhampton

Sevacare demonstrated going the extra mile through service delivery and systems. Involvement of family, service users and carers in identifying their care. Innovative approach to reshaping care throughout the whole business.

 

The Care Employer Award – Less than 250 employees

 

C+S Care Services, Wolverhampton

Sue and Claire are totally committed and passionate to deliver the highest possible quality, personalised service to their clients. They set the standard for their staff and service.

 

The Care Home Worker Award

 

Michael Flintoff – Friends of the Elderly, Worcestershire

Michael demonstrated a real understanding of person centred care and the uniqueness of each individual he cares for. He demonstrated a calm reassured approach to his work and come across as a warm and genuine care worker.

 

The Home Care Worker Award

 

Pauline Rose – Home Instead Senior Care, Solihull

Pauline describes her role as a care giver. People supported by Pauline stated they had “struck gold” she epitomises what a true care should be.

Pauline enables her clients to feel comfortable and trusting within a short amount of time.

 

The Care Newcomer Award

 

Kyle Senior – Direct Health, Telford

Kyle impressed the judges with his enthusiasm towards his new career in social care.  Respect, dignity and promoting independence for the service users is at the heart of everything he does.  Kyle has an extremely bright future ahead of him!

 

The Home Care Registered Manager Award:

 

Wendy Beesley – Allcare Shropshire, Shrewsbury

Wendy demonstrates a single-minded understanding of the management processes needed to grow a successful business. She believes passionately in training and stamps her style on every action that the business takes. Third time lucky! Congratulations!

 

 

The Care Home Registered Manager Award

 

Sally Latham – Majesticare, Stoke-on-Trent

A confident and professional manager who believes in empowering staff. She understands that living a full life as a resident may involve risk and that should be managed not avoided. She displayed a strong business sense.

 

The Nutrition & Hydration Award

 

Nicola Thorpe – Staffordshire County Council, Staffordshire

Nicola demonstrated good knowledge of the importance of good nutrition and hydration and the impact of malnutrition. She is involved in measuring the effectiveness of individual nutrition care plans.

 

The Dignity in Care Award

 

Anne Minshall – Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Stoke-on-Trent

Anne believes dignity is the essence of a person. She works tirelessly to imbed dignity in even the most basic elements of everyday life for service users with dementia.

 

The Dementia Carer Award

 

Amanda Cain – Abbots House, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Stoke-on-Trent

Amanda demonstrated her passion about the industry by sharing her innovative practice and what could be achieved by going back to basic and proving that you can enable and enhance the lives of dementia sufferers.

 

The Care Team Award

Birmingham Homecare Enablement Team, Birmingham

The team have transformed their service on the basis of a clearly communicated shared vision and have shared their successes with the wider team and beyond.

 

The Care Home Activity Organiser Award

 

Elaine Brooks – Southern Cross, Tipton

An imaginative activity organiser that takes down the walls of a home and bring in the family and community. Even organising a Full Monty show to raise money for a residents day out, Elaine is a true winner.

 

The Ancillary Worker Award

 

Les Tyler – Castel Froma, Warwickshire

Les has made a significant impact within his workplace. His experience and understanding of residents and their needs has resulted in significant savings that have directly improved residents lives.

 

The Care Trainer Award

 

Susannah Chard – Choices Housing Association, Staffordshire

Susannah has an extensive knowledge and understanding to the needs of both staff and people who use services in relation to learning. Her approach to the involvement of service users was very impressive.

 

The Care Innovator Award:

 

Brenda Currill – Medoris, Witney

Brenda showed clear examples of needs where her innovation matched and satisfied those needs to the ultimate benefit of the individual. She showed a passionate desire that motivated her to improve the very personal care needs of those people.

 

The Frontline Leaders Award

 

Anthony Decola – Sevacare UK Ltd, Birmingham

He exemplifies a commitment and the qualities required of a frontline leader in delivering consistent, high quality, person-centred services through his staff and by his own personal example.

 

The Home Care Co-ordinator Award

 

Sue Burnett – Bancroft Gardens Residential Home, Stratford Upon Avon

Loves what she does and does what she loves. Sue is someone we would all be happy to co-ordinate the care for our families.

 

The Putting People First Award

 

Coverage Care Services, Shropshire

Personalisation was embraced to meet individual identified outcomes and commitment was personalised to every aspect of the service provided. Coverage Care are a strong team who really understand the needs of individuals.

 

 

The Housing with Care Award

 

Winehala Care Team – Housing 21, Willeshall

Denise and the team demonstrated a good understanding of the ethos of supported housing. Their knowledge and examples of person centred care and importance of measurable outcomes was first class.

 

The Good Commissioner Award

 

Joint Commissioning Team – Birmingham City Council, Birmingham

Good staff are the lifeline of the commissioning team and this team have clearly demonstrated the need to ensure this is maintained to deliver the care to our friends and families. They have a strong commitment to strategic commissioning which always leads to great operational delivery.

 

The Carer’s Award

 

May Hay

 

May is a one off exceptional 76 years old “lady”!

 

When the main carer of a paraplegic gentleman passed away, May stepped in to share his care and this entails often walking several miles to his home.

 

Through church connections May regularly visits many people confined to their homes. She acknowledges that friendship and love is the biggest comfort to anyone in need.

 

May is an unrecognised “Hero on the Community” and her recognition of her unfailing commitment to caring for other people is long past due.

 

The Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award

 

Debbie Le Quesne – West Midlands Care Association

 

Debbie is an inspiring force in the West Midlands Care Association and is passionate about promoting the need for quality care and support for vulnerable people.
Debbie is key in managing the advice and support for people seeking care, promoting training opportunities, recruitment assistance and general advice to the Sector in the West Midlands.

 

Debbie is also plays a pivotal role in negotiating on behalf of the association’s members with the Council.
Debbie is invaluable to the West Midlands Care Association and indeed to the care sector as a whole.  She is an inspiration!