We are pleased to nominate three members of staff for the National Learning Disability and Autism Awards 2015.

Wendy Coleman is Manager at 23 Duston Road, a home registered for nine service users, providing care for people with challenging behaviour. Wendy ensures that care is truly person-centred and the service users are at the heart of any decisions she makes within the home. Wendy has challenging individuals living in her home and still manages to ensure a happy, homely atmosphere whilst providing an excellent clinical care package. She works closely with the multi-disciplinary team of therapists including Clinical Psychologists, OT, SALT, Physiotherapists and Psychiatrist to ensure service users receive the right care plans and interventions.

Jane Payne, Service Manager, has been nominated for the Employer Award for her commitment to providing top quality care to people with learning disabilities by heading our group of homes. Jane has responsibility for supervising the managers and support staff, and has overall accountability to us, the owners. She is entirely service-user focused and always assesses the impact on service users when making decisions.

Jane has achieved a careful balance of providing empathetic, ethical care and maintaining a successful business. She believes that the two can go hand in hand and that profitability is vital to safeguard placements and provide a sustainable stable home for service users. Thanks to Jane, our homes have thrived and grown over the last few years.

Patience Vushemasimba has been nominated for the Support Worker Award because of her compassionate, cheerful and very caring attitude that contributes to her skills as a support worker. She brightens the rooms with her greetings and smile, and has a genuine concern for others, including the people she looks after and the colleagues she works alongside. Patience offers support no matter what the person’s background or condition is that makes their day a bit of a challenge. Patience listens and empowers those in her care by encouragement, helping them to regain, maintain or improve their skills towards independence.

We would like to thank Wendy, Jane and Patience for their continued commitment and wish them best of luck in the awards. We hope that they can follow in Jackie Mann’s footsteps as she was a finalist last year! If you think that any of our staff deserve an award, please let us know.