August 2018
no.262 • £4.75 incorporating
The Number One magazine for the care sector
Karen is the latest from group to be recognised
Do not leave it too late to enter Awards By Dominic Musgrave TIME is running out to submit your Caring UK Awards’ entries, with nominations for this year closing on August 29. The Caring UK Awards, in partnership with Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, recognise excellence and achievement throughout the care industry and recognising team efforts across the UK. They have been created to highlight and pay tribute to the care home teams who make an outstanding contribution to caring for the elderly. Taking place on Thursday December 6 at the The Athena in Leicester, there are 20 trophies up for grabs at this year’s awards including Care Home of the Year, Volunteer Team of the Year and Activities Team of the Year. Other categories include Best Innovation in Care, Best Outdoor Environment and Care Employer of the Year. Derek Breingan, head of health and social care at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, said: “There is still time to nominate an entry for this year’s Awards and I would encourage everyone to take the opportunity to highlight an individual or service that deserves recognition. “Without the dedication of people
delivering the care and support, every hour of every day of every year, to those elderly and the most vulnerable of our society life for the majority, and their loved ones and families, would be very difficult. “There is a tendency in this country to focus on negative press rather than to highlight the vast majority of positive outcomes and stories that feature in social care and to showcase the real difference that is being made every day. “These Awards allow the sector to showcase outstanding contribution and help promote all that is good and, at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, we are proud to be involved in this event and humbled by the fantastic examples from nominees. So please take the opportunity to nominate a deserving entry and make this year’s Awards even better.” Judges include Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of Care England, Nadra Ahmed OBE, executive chairman of the National Care Association, Raj Kapoor, head of training and consultancy at the Alzheimer’s Society, Care Forum Wales chair Mario Kreft MBE and Jane Murphy, professor of nutrition at Bournemouth University. n Enter your nomination at www. caringukawards.co.uk or see pages 29 to 32.
Louise Smith and her partner Simon Webber ‘took to the floor’ in true Strictly Come Dancing style recently, helping to raise almost £700 towards a total of £8,000 from the evening for the Mary Ann Evans Hospice at the George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton. Dressed to impress and dramatically be-sequined, the couple delivered their moves along with nine other couples who had all been receiving weekly dance lessons since mid-January in preparation for a final ‘dance off’ at the Bedworth Civic Hall. As a village advisor at Richmond Bede Village in Bedworth, which has a 24-hour nursing home specialising in palliative care, Louise works closely with those with a terminal illness and has a real empathy for the work of the hospice.
KAREN Buchan, senior people services advisor at Balhousie Care Group, came out on top at the cHeRries Awards 2018, winning the HR Advisor category. She picked up the award at the AECC in Aberdeen in front of her industry peers at the prestigious event organised by The Press and Journal. Karen has been an integral part of the repositioning of Balhousie Care Group’s human resources team – now called the people services team – and a cultural shift across the company. This shift has brought with it a focus on recognising every staff member’s skills, and involving residents and family members in care decisions This is the latest in a growing list of accolades for the care group, which has 25 care homes across the north-east of Scotland. Steve White, CEO at Balhousie Care Group, said: “We are delighted to see the amazing work Karen has carried out be recognised at the cHeRries Awards. Karen has played a crucial role in the new, fresh direction which Balhousie Care Group has been following for the last two years, particularly in reviewing how we deliver our human resources services.” This recognition has been topped off with two of the group’s care homes achieving the highest Care Inspectorate rank in the last 12 months.