The Orchard receive the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Hertfordshire Care Awards
A dedicated care team based in St Albans were recognised for their outstanding achievements during the COVID-19 pandemic at the tenth annual Hertfordshire Care Awards.
The Orchard Nursing Home were awarded an Outstanding Achievement plaque by HCPA to display proudly at their premises, a nod to the fantastic work that they and their teams have all been doing in these unprecedented times.
The Orchard team which is led my Manager Wendy Walker, include leaders, managers, Nurses , Care staff and ancillary staff with a commitment to working together to deliver high-quality care and support to the residents in our care. They are committed to the Caring Homes Group values of being caring, accountable, extraordinary, open and one team. The team invest the time to communicate well with families, staff and the people they support, as well as embracing change and always looking at ways to improve quality.
Regional Manager Violet Kotu – “I have been truly humbled by the extraordinary engagement, positivity and commitment that the team at Orchard have displayed throughout the pandemic, they are truly inspirational. The award is very well deserved”.
Due to current restrictions the tenth annual Hertfordshire Care Awards was held in a very different format to previous years. The event which was live-streamed across the county on November 20th saw VIP guests including the director of adult care services for Hertfordshire, Chris Badger and Hertfordshire County Council’s executive member for adult care and health Cllr Richard Roberts sending words of praise and thanks in the virtual presentation.
A host of celebrity well-wishers also took time to send messages of support and thanks including appearances from the magnificent actor John Challis as his character ‘Boycie’ from Only Fools and Horses as well as American TV personality Perez Hilton.
No awards celebration would have been complete without entertainment and the 2020 event was no exception. Guests were treated to performances from the Choir on the Green, West End star Amy Bird, Hertfordshire based band The Kingmakers and many more top-class world-renowned entertainers.
On putting together a virtual event, Head of Operations for HCPA and Host of the awards Wesley Strahan-Hughes said:
“It really was a labour of love this year putting together a live, online event rather than our usual ceremony we have been staging for 10 years. We were overwhelmed with the contributions from celebrities and music acts coming forward to give their own time to say thank you to Hertfordshire’s excellent Care staff. We are proud to have been able to showcase the wonderful key workers we have working in care in our county and the companies that are supporting them in this challenging year: They have all been outstanding, and all care providers in Hertfordshire deserve the recognition they have received through our awards for their outstanding achievement.”
Through the annual Hertfordshire Care Awards, the HCPA celebrates and rewards the successes of care providers within the county and showcases why care in the private, voluntary and independent sectors in the county is outstanding.
HCPA chief executive Sharon Davies said: “At a time when our care providers have been stretched and tested to their very limits, we felt it was more important than ever to celebrate and reward all of the excellent work they and their teams have been implementing across the county. The Hertfordshire Care Awards go some way to recognising their achievements. They also enable us and our partners to show our appreciation for all of the sacrifice and hard work that they have made throughout 2020.”
HCPA are a not-for-profit organisation that help adult care providers in Hertfordshire raise their standards of quality by offering fully funded training, network events and study days, funding for adult social care training courses and qualifications for their members on behalf of the government, the local authority, the NHS, and other funding agencies.
HCPA also work closely with their partners at Hertfordshire County Council, the Care Quality Commission, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Skills for Care and other public bodies, to help make positive changes in the Hertfordshire adult social care sector.
