DEVON’S Southern Healthcare group has been named ‘Care Employer of the Year’ at a prestigious regional awards ceremony.

The managing director of the company, Geoffrey Cox, was on hand to receive the award at the South West regional finals of the Great British Care Awards 2022 in Bristol.

The GBCA awards are a series of regional events held throughout the UK and are a celebration of excellence across the care sector.

At the same event, the team at Parkwood House in Plymouth were highly commended (runners up) in the ‘Care Team of the Year’ category and Daniela Mustatia from Sefton Hall in Dawlish was highly commended (runner-up) in the ‘Social Care Nurse of the Year’ award.

Daniela was honoured for her initiative in researching the medical regime of a 76-year-old man in the home’s care who was seemingly suffering from rare, but potentially serious, side effects from the medication he was taking.

With the support of the GP, the Sefton Hall resident returned to good health and is now leading a fully independent life in his own home. Daniela was also a finalist in the ‘Care Registered Nurse’ category at the annual Caring Times National Care Awards and she was in London for that occasion on the very same evening. The judges praised Southern Healthcare for its commitment to “ensuring staff feel valued and are trained to be able to deliver quality care.”

Speaking about the awards, Mr Cox said: ‘To me, this is testament to our amazing teams, their dedication to the people we serve and to each other.

'What we strive to do is to create the environment in which people can flourish; congratulations to the Parkwood staff and to Daniela at Sefton Hall especially.

'Her initiative and contribution to the resident achieved an extraordinary outcome. Indeed, the whole team is amazing, of which we are very proud indeed.'