DEDICATION to ensuring residents always ‘look forward to tomorrow’ has seen staff at an Abingdon care home win a national award.

The 84-strong team at Bridge House care home took home the Putting People First Personalisation Award at the Great British Care Awards earlier this month, which pay tribute to those individuals and teams who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work.

Representatives from the team attended the ceremony in Birmingham on March 16 and received their trophy from BBC radio and television presenter Jeremy Vine, who hosts quiz show Eggheads.

The Oxfordshire team scooped the accolade after being judged the best care home to demonstrate an innovative approach to empowering their residents to have more control of the support they need in their lives.

They beat competition from eight other regional finalists.

A notable element of the Bridge House submission was their unique ‘Making Every Connection Count Challenge’.

The aim behind this is to ensure that everyone working in the home – from nurses and carers to maintenance and domestic staff – are individually trained, taking into account their differing levels of responsibility and interaction.

June Maharaj, home manager at Bridge House said: “As a team we are privileged to do the work we love.

“We do our very best, and are our happiest when we are fully engaged in caring for our residents.

“Central to this is providing our residents with opportunities to look forward to tomorrow, which encourages them never to give up and never stop believing.”

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “People who work in social care make a huge difference to the lives of the people they work with and are some of society’s unsung heroes.

“These awards seek to redress the lack of recognition that people who work in social care receive and recognises and rewards the very best in the social care workforce, giving them praise and respect for the transformational work they do every day.”