Community Integrated Care Win at Great North East Awards

Community Integrated Care have scooped three top awards at the prestigious Great North East Care Awards.

The awards, which are supported by the Department of Health, are part of the Great British Care Awards, a series of regional awards which celebrate excellence in social care and pay tribute to those who work in the sector throughout England.  They were presented by TV star Hardeep Singh at the Hilton Hotel, Newcastle on Saturday.

Elizabeth Stavers, who manages two services that support people with learning disabilities in Gateshead, collected the ‘Care Home Coordinator’ award, presented in recognition of her delivering consistently high standards of care to people living in residential care services.

Our Cheviot Gardens service, which supports an individual with profound learning difficulties in Lobley Hill, won the ‘Putting People First’ award. This award is given to individuals who demonstrate an innovative approach to empowering people to have more control over the care and support they receive.

Peter Murray, Head Chef at St Johns Nursing Home, Darlington, collected ‘The Care Home Nutrition and Hydration Award’.  Peter was nominated for the award having helped the home, which supports 24 people with dementia and enduring mental health issues, achieve a 5 Star Food Safety Rating for three consecutive years and developed a menu for residents based upon the latest research in dementia catering.

Community Integrated Care’s winners will now go forward to the national finals of the Great British Care Awards – to be held in May or June 2012.

Neil Matthewman, Chief Executive of Community Integrated Care, said “We are very proud of Elizabeth, Peter and the Cheviot Gardens team, who were all deserving winners at this prestigious ceremony. Not only are they fantastic ambassadors for the north-east community, they are also brilliant representatives for the care sector as a whole.”

He added, “Their dedicated and innovative approach to care has really changed lives and was rightly recognised with these commendations.”