CARERS make an incredible, often incalculable difference to people's lives - and now a national care provider has backed a health and social care award scheme which recognises these unsung heroes.

Sanctuary Care has backed our Worcestershire Health and Social Care Awards by becoming a sponsor, describing themselves as 'beyond proud' to be involved.

The awards recognise the hard work of carers across the county, and the time they dedicate to support those in need every single day.

A spokeswoman for the organisation said: "As a national care provider with nine Good CQC rated care homes across Worcestershire, Sanctuary Care is beyond proud to be a sponsor.

"We wanted to take this opportunity to shine a light on not only our own devoted heroes who are enriching lives in our homes every day, but healthcare professionals and GPs across the sector who have gone above and beyond throughout the past 12-months."

Sanctuary is sponsoring the GP Practice award. Group director for care, Sarah Clarke-Kuehn, said: “The support our Worcestershire homes have had from their local practices over the pandemic has been phenomenal. The speed at which they’ve supported our residents and staff to have Covid vaccines has been incredible and has supported us to continue to deliver the safest of care and provided such peace of mind.”

The spokeswoman added: "Our teams are beyond grateful for the Covid-19 vaccine programme as since the early stages of the pandemic, we have had the processes in place to protect everyone in our care, ensuring our homes are as safe as they possibly can be, so our devoted teams can continue enriching lives. We are truly passionate about supporting our residents to thrive across our homes in Worcestershire. We look beyond physical and emotional care needs, but what makes every person unique.

"Just like retired music teacher Rita, a resident at Ravenhurst in Stourport. With the support of our caring team, she’s started a choir in the home and prior to the pandemic and volunteered with singing classes at the local school.

"But that’s just one example. The lengths some of our staff go to for our residents is inspirational, from a care assistant at Regent in Worcester, who regularly took a resident swimming on her days off, to a maintenance operative at Juniper House, also in Worcester, who became the home’s DJ, playing music the residents simply adored.

"Along with inspiring activities programmes, our staff have been working tirelessly to keep residents connected with those who mean the most. During the pandemic, we purchased iPads to support loved ones to stay connected to residents with video calls. We also organised a two-month ‘virtual’ cruise, recreating holiday hotspots, including authentic cuisine, music and activities, with residents sending postcards to family to share all the fun they were having.

And as soon as it was safe to do so, our teams have been welcoming loved ones back to our homes with pre-bookable Covid-secure visits in designated visiting rooms since 1 June, which has eased even further in March.

"We truly care for residents as if they were members of our own family, with our high-quality teams available in every home. We nurture staff with special qualities. Our Learning Development Team delivers bespoke courses to support our teams to thrive, which encourages them to stay with us, giving our residents and their families that continuity of quality care that they so crave."

Sanctuary Care has invested in ‘kradle’, their bespoke electronic care planning app so our teams can electronically plan, track and measure at the point of care, giving staff even more quality time to spend with their residents.

The focus is on the individuals and teams that have gone above and beyond the call of duty to care for those who need extra help in their daily lives, acknowledging that this has been especially challenging during the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are 12 categories and nominations are open now at Worcestershire Health & Social Care Awards 2021.

See here to nominate someone before the deadline of April 2, and for more on the awards visit here.

For more information on Sanctuary visit www.sanctuary-care.co.uk