More than 150 team members from care home provider Colten Care came together to honour the nominees, finalists and winners of its annual in-house staff awards.

Individuals, teams, homes and departments were all recognised as this year’s Colten Champions culminated in a glittering black-tie evening and awards ceremony at Bournemouth’s Highcliff Marriott Hotel.

Award categories reflected all aspects of the care mix including nursing and caring excellence, teamwork and customer service.

Colten Care’s Salisbury home Braemar Lodge was named the overall Home Team of the Year, with one of its many nominations reading: ‘A home that has worked tirelessly as a team, overcoming every challenge while always keeping residents at the heart of everything they do.”

It was also a successful night for Newstone House, Colten Care’s home in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, which offers both professional nursing and dedicated dementia care.

Kate Seck and Shelby A’Court, joint Companionship Team Leaders at the home, picked up the awards for Resident & Relative Choice and Newcomer respectively while Chef Jack Wood won the Resident Impact title. They and Newstone House colleagues also landed the Home Team of the Year award for Colten’s East and West homes’ cluster.

Asked how she felt when her name was read out for winning her individual award, Kate said:

“I felt really grateful. The fact that it was voted for by residents and relatives made it very special. I’m delighted that Newstone House did so amazingly well, with a number of finalist places. We are all proud of the home. It was a great night.”

A Values award, designed to recognise an individual who exemplifies Colten’s company values of being friendly, kind, individual, reassuring and honest, was won by Tracy McCallum, Customer Support Advisor at Kingfishers in New Milton, Hampshire.

Other winners included Daniela Buzatu, Senior Nurse at Belmore Lodge in Lymington, for Nursing Excellence, and Levente Varga, Senior Care Lead at Woodpeckers in Brockenhurst, for Caring Excellence. Daniela said:

“It was absolutely amazing to hear I had won. I was speechless for a moment. I’m so happy and have a feeling of huge gratitude to everyone who has supported me. I am so grateful to Colten Care for giving me the opportunity to progress.”

There were two awards celebrated at The Aldbury in Poole. Colleagues picked up the title of Home Team of the Year for Colten’s Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole cluster, while the home’s Senior Administrator David Austin took the award for Warm Welcome.

The awards ceremony was hosted by Colten Care Directors Mark Aitchison, Elaine Farrer and George Colwell.

Chief Executive Mark said:

“Colten Champions is an ideal, stand-out way to celebrate the hard work our team members do so amazingly well on behalf of our residents every single day. The pride and passion of colleagues who put each individual resident at the very heart of all they do is truly inspiring. I thank everyone who put in a nomination and of course congratulate all the winners, finalists and nominees.”

After the ceremony, guests took to the dance floor and enjoyed live music courtesy of Sing Out Sisters and We Are Robot.