The Great British Care Awards Are Back!

It is that time of year again when the nominations for the great British Care Awards open.

It is that time of year again when the nominations for the great British Care Awards open.

Last year we saw our Lincolnshire Registered Manager, Lisa Bidwell. Go all the way through to the finals. Fingers crossed with your support we can do this again.

What are The Great British Care Awards?

The Great British Care Awards are a series of regional events throughout the UK and are a celebration of excellence across the care sector. The purpose of the awards is to pay tribute to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work.

There are a number of awards categories available for nomination, which represent all areas of the social 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 and innovation.

For what are the benefits to nominating/being nominated?

Benefits to individuals

By nominating a colleague, you will be supporting their dedication and commitment whilst also helping to raise the profile of care in this sector as a whole. Also how incredible is it to know that your colleagues/customers feel you’re doing such an excellent job that you should be recognised for this?

Benefits to organisations

By nominating our employees, we will be demonstrating pride in their hard work and excellence. The awards also present an excellent publicity opportunity. Should a nominee be successful, we will have the chance to purchase a table at the superb gala dinner, to attend as an organisation along with our nominees and guests – a fantastic way to raise the profile of our organisation through networking and motivating our staff!

Why should I nominate? I hear you ask.

Why wouldn’t you want to nominate? In all honesty, why not vote for your colleagues and staff. This is an incredible way to recognise their work, commitment dedication to the customers and care sector, whilst also helping to raise the profile of the care sector as a whole.

The awards are all inclusive, bringing together the statutory, independent, and voluntary sectors, as well as unpaid carers, promoting joint working. Working in partnership with care partners and local care associations is at the heart of the initiative; working and linking directly with local managers and networks to further promote the event.

Who can you nominate?

The awards represent all areas of care and support, whether it be care homes, domiciliary care teams, local authorities, fostering and adoption services or the voluntary sectors. From frontline staff such as key workers, support workers or care assistants and care managers, supervisors, and mentors to people who have made an impact in other ways through child protection, supporting care leavers and inspirational young carers. This includes all of our office teams including, finance, marketing, facilities, HR, and recruitment.

How does the judging work?

If your nominee makes it through to judging, they will be contacted via email to set up an interview. During this interview they will be asked a series of questions.

Following this all nominees, and their employers will be invited to the regional finals (its announced before hand if they have made it to the finals, as one of the top 3), if they win their regional final they will later be invited to the national finials where National Finalist will be announced for each category.

What are the categories?

There are many categories this year. The categories for nominations that our teams fall into are:

• The Dignity in Care Award – this award will be presented to an individual who can demonstrate the significance of maximising client independence and choice, whilst always respecting and maintaining privacy and dignity.
• The Care Team Award – this award will be presented to the team who are able to best demonstrate a shared vision and agreed goals, the team should have a leader whose role is known and accepted and who take personal responsibility for their tasks. Teams should have an excellent communication process and each member’s skills should be recognised within the team. Demonstrating a commitment to dignity and privacy for clients and respect for team members is paramount.
• The Ancillary Worker – this award will recognise an excellent, person centred service to clients, demonstrating dignity and respect through ancillary services, (for example, handy persons, cleaners, and receptionists). Candidates should be able to provide examples of initiatives and excellence in their work and pride themselves on outstanding client feedback.
• The Care Innovator Award - This award will recognise the person who has shown exceptional entrepreneurial skills in identifying, developing, implementing, and establishing a new service; or a new administrative system; or the launch of a new product. This new innovation must demonstrate benefits for staff, the business, and users of the service.
• The Home Care Worker Award - This award recognises the significant role of the Home Care Worker in consistently providing a high-quality standard, for people living in their own homes. Evidence of dedication, awareness of colleagues and career development through training will be important elements for the judges. This category is also open to Personal Assistants.
• The Home Care Coordinator Award - This award will be given to the Home Care Coordinator who can demonstrate to the judges their knowledge and skill in utilising their care team in an effective and efficient way. This person will demonstrate vision in motivating and supporting staff whilst ensuring the clients remains at the heart of the service.
• The Palliative Care/End of Life Award - This award will be given to the Home Care Coordinator who can demonstrate to the judges their knowledge and skill in utilising their care team in an effective and efficient way. This person will demonstrate vision in motivating and supporting staff whilst ensuring the clients remains at the heart of the service.
• The Care Newcomer Award - This award seeks to acknowledge and celebrate a new member of staff who ideally commenced and remained in employment in the care sector within the previous 12 months. The individual can either be returning to the sector after at least two years away or be joining for the first time.
• The Dementia Carer Award - This award will be given to an individual who can reflect the specific skills needed to manage and deliver services sensitive to the needs of older people with dementia, and which reflects an awareness of the provider organization that investment in this type of service provision will meet increasing demand in the future.
• The Home Care Registered Manager - This award will be given to the Registered Home Care Manager who has demonstrated a high level of expertise together with exceptional skills in managing the complex business of running a home care business. A Manager who shows vision in developing person centred care and supporting staff to meet the ever-changing needs of the service users.
• The Workforce Development Award - This award will acknowledge the importance of the role of workforce development within the care service and looks for a person who has shown incredible enthusiasm and determination in identifying training and development needs of care staff, establishing rolling training programmes, searching for and gaining funding and proving their ability to enthuse and energise staff to attend and request training.
• The Frontline Leaders Award - This award will be given to a person who is a supervisor, senior care worker, team leader or a first-time manager and has shown clear commitment to improving the delivery of care and support within their team. A person who has shown leadership qualities by reflecting on what could be better and supporting others to bring about change.
• The Putting People First - This award seeks to recognise a team who have embraced the ‘Putting People First’/Personalisation agenda and can demonstrate an innovative approach to empowering people to have more control over the support they need in their lives. Please note that a maximum of three people may represent the team at the judging day.
• The Social Care Nurse Award - This award acknowledges the important role that specialist nurses working in the Care Sector have in promoting the emotional, physical, psychological and social health of the people who they support. The individual should be able to demonstrate how nursing skills integrate with social care.
• The Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award - This special award will be presented to the individual whom the judges believe has made a long-term outstanding contribution to social care. Nominations are welcomed from across the care sector. (THIS AWARD WILL BE JUDGED ON WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS ONLY)

How do I nominate someone?

If you wish to nominate someone, please feel free to use the link below to nominate for the member/members of staff you feel deserve the recognition for all their hard work.

https://www.care-awards.co.uk/nominate/

I know I will be jumping on to nominate for our care staff and office team once I have uploaded this for you all to read.