Award winner Michael G RogersOn Friday 6 June, over 500 of the very best in social care attended an awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London's Park Lane, for the national finals of the Great British Home Care Awards.There were a total of fourteen award categories, which represent all areas of the home care sector, whether it be older people or specialist services and from frontline staff such as care workers and care managers to people who have made an impact in other ways such as training, and specialist care in areas such as dementia and innovation.Mike Rogers, non-Executive Director of Mears Group PLC, won The Outstanding Contribution to Social Care Award at The Great British Home Care Awards. He was presented with the award by comedian Patrick Monahan. Michael founded Careforce in 1999 and has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare-services services and care-services provision.Held in association with Specsavers Healthcall and hosted by United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA), the event brought together the winners from the nine regional Great British Care Awards held in autumn 2013 who were invited to compete to become the national champions.The gala awards evening started in style with a champagne reception, followed by a superb gourmet dinner with a surprise performance from The Singing Waiters, music from a live band and dancing into the night.The judges said: “Mike has been an inspiration in forging the path in domiciliary care .He is acutely aware of the challenges that are faced daily by the providers and the pressures on the purchasers of the service. His experience and wisdom shine through in helping to develop workable solutions to delivering the service. He is also one of the nicest people to work with. His encouragement and support have played a big part in the successful development of many carers within the sector.”The awards support a chosen charity, The Care Workers Charity, the registered charity for the care sector that support current, former and retired care professionals by providing assistance to relieve financial hardship or sickness and also provide advice and guidance on the availability of state support and links with debt counsellors.Bridgett Warr, chief executive of UKHCA said: “Whatever the weather and whatever else is happening in the world, every day and in every corner of the country, homecare workers are out and about - often unnoticed - providing the vital care and support that enables so many people to live independently in their own homes
The Great British Care Awards play an important role in recognising and celebrating truly outstanding individuals in the homecare workforce, who through their skills, dedication and commitment are making a real difference to people’s lives”.Lisa Carr, Director of the Great British Care Awards said: “This is the fifth year we have held the national finals and we have once again been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm from our industry. The quality of the finalists from across the country and throughout the sector is extremely high and the judges have had the unenviable task of choosing an overall winner for each category – a true national champion.The awards offer a unique opportunity to celebrate the successes of individuals, teams and businesses throughout the UK - people who really do make a positive impact on people’s lives. During these testing economic times social care has once again suffered the impact of associated adversity – the awards are a positive way of raising motivation within our social care workforce and indeed the profile of the sector as a whole.”