Winners announced for Leeds Quality in Care Awards

The annual Leeds Quality in Care awards celebrated the excellent work taking place across the sector and shone a light on those individuals and services that have made a real difference over the past two years.

Representing the excellence throughout the Leeds adult care sector, the award winners and finalists have all strived above and beyond in ensuring Leeds is an age friendly city.

There were 10 awards in total which were presented at a ceremony live streamed from The Carriageworks Theatre.

Councillor Fiona Venner, executive member for adults and children’s social care and health partnerships, said: “The Quality in Care Awards represent the excellent level of service provided across the adult care sector in Leeds. I would like to personally thank all the finalists for going above and beyond in delivering excellent care for their customers. It has undoubtedly been a tough 20 months for the sector and I hope this award ceremony allowed individuals and services to reflect back on the amazing things they have achieved.”

Nursing home nurse of the year:
Sponsored by the University of Leeds

Magdalena Duzniak- Magdalena leads on end-of life care at Pennington Court Care home and determined to make this time as comfortable and calm for patients as possible. She is passionate about her profession and goes out of her way to be supportive of all that cross her path, including student nurses, care workers and families.

Paid care or support worker of the year:

Helen Smith- Helen consistently demonstrates her commitment to supporting people in a person-centred manner. Making sure she gets to know all the people she cares for on a personal level and doing her best to support them to achieve what they want; she searches out activities that are affordable, accessible, and most importantly enjoyable for all those she cares for.

Volunteer of the Year:
Sponsored by Westward Care

Mrs Feenan- Mrs Feenan has volunteered at Seacroft Grange for over two years and is heavily involved with the training of staff, specifically in supporting care staff to understand the positive difference that staff can make for residents and their families. She has also been involved in wider improvements for the sector with her involvement in Home Excellence (NICHE) research projects.

Karen Winterburn- Karen provided an invaluable contribution and involvement in supporting residents at Seacroft Grange on a day-to-day basis, assisting with days out, community events and activities. She is always happy to make time to chat with individuals and nothing is ever too much trouble for Karen.

Registered Manager of the Year:
Sponsored by Acas

Lisa Monaghan- Lisa has a clear passion for social care and a strong determination to provide quality services for the people who need care and support. Her exceptional leadership and management skills, knowledge and determination have allowed her to make a real impact at St Anne’s, allowing her get the best out of her team. 

Best Recruitment and Retention initiative:

Home Instead Senior Care (Wetherby)- Home Instead are able to provide support to people in their own homes by recruiting creatively and ensuring the right local people enter the service. Working closely with the Wetherby community arranging activities such as fun runs to promote their service.

Most Innovative approach to supporting independence choice and Control:

Leeds City Council Skills Reablement Service- The service has displayed outstanding dedication to supporting independence through person centred and inclusive support planning. The service has cultivated excellent multi-disciplinary partnerships and worked to expedite support, sometimes with innovative solutions. Whilst also focusing on promoting and facilitating a ‘can do’ attitude, thereby providing a clear path forward to re-enablement for each individual.

Leeds City Council South Leeds Recovery Hub- The South Leeds Recovery Hub is an excellent example of inclusive working across Leeds, producing lots of new and innovative ideas and solutions to aid customers return home, giving them independence, control and choice. Within the hub multi—disciplinary teams collaborate excellently together and all show a shared commitment to their customers.

Most inclusive service provision:
Sponsored by Leeds Beckett University

People Matters (West Yorkshire)- People Matters has an outstanding commitment to innovation and providing an inclusive service, which is open to all adults across Leeds who have a disability and/or facing challenges in their lives. Having achieved the ‘Disability Confident Leader’ recognition further highlights this commitment.

Outstanding Contribution to Social Care:
Sponsored by Leeds City College

Cyd Akrill MBE- Cyd has been a qualified nurse for 42 years and now works for Seacroft Grange Care Village. Before working at Seacroft she managed Barchester’s Caste Care Village for four years for which she has received this award. Demonstrating great tenacity and personal drive, Cyd has positively impacted both her staff and those using services. Driving positive change in nursing across areas of learning disability, mental health and most recently end of life care.

Digital innovation to support independence:

Beech Hall Care Home (Anchor)- Beech Hall has truly embraced the use of technology to holistically enhance resident’s lives and allowed them to increase their interaction with the local community staff and use and support residents to encourage choice and independence via technology whilst making it fun.