Once again, we have teamed up with Ontex to reward those working in care through our Care Home Heroes competition. Below, we spoke with Angela Gillespie, Distributor Channel Manager at Ontex, to find out a little bit more….

So, for those who haven’t heard of you, who is Ontex?

Ontex is a leading international personal hygiene group. We manufacture adult continence care solutions, you may already be using our iD or Lille Healthcare products in your care home already. We also manufacture own-brand supermarket baby nappies and feminine hygiene products.

And what is the history of the Care Home Heroes competition?

We supply products to the NHS and independent care homes across the UK, so our team spends a lot of time in various care homes training the staff on the best way to use our products.

Because we spend time in many care homes, we get to see the wonderful people making a difference every single day and thought they should be recognised however possible.

Five years ago, we were discussing with Caring Times about how we could do something to recognize the hardworking individuals in care homes and share their stories. We agreed that a small competition as a token of recognition would be a great start, based on inviting people to nominate somebody they think deserves it.

Tell us a little bit more about Care Home Heroes:

It is absolutely free to enter and open to everybody working in a care home setting. It’ll always be free to be a part of Care Home Heroes so that those who go the extra mile are recognised and rewarded. 

We’ve tried to make entry as easy as possible – you just need to nominate somebody with an example of how they have made a difference in a care setting.

How are the winners selected?

Once we reach our deadline (Friday, 19 May, 2023), there are a panel of up to five of us from both Caring Times and Ontex. Here we read every single entry and discuss who we think should win. It takes a few days, but we love to read each and every nomination – last year we had over 350 nominations.

Once the three runners-up and one final winner are chosen (which is always a difficult decision!) we let them know straight away and confirm where they would like their prize delivered. Then, Caring Times will be in touch about how to share their story in their publication. The three runners-up each receive £250 in vouchers and the winner will receive £500.

Is there anything different about this year’s competition?

Apart from the fact that it gets harder to choose each year? Yes, this year we’re wanting to announce the winners at the new Care Managers Show in Birmingham on 30 June. Here, they’ll be invited on stage to be presented with their award by a very popular secret celebrity! Trust me – you do not want to miss out.

Finally, any top tips when nominating somebody?

We didn’t want to standardize nominations because each person is unique, so all I would say is to share as much detail as possible. It’s tough to pick our winner when there are so many worthy applicants, so more examples given with detail can make the difference.

We normally ask for an email with a written description and example of how they have made a difference, but if you’d prefer to do a video recording or anything else creative – please do! It really is a celebration of the person, and may just be sharing something so simple, yet makes a difference. 

To find out more about Care Home Heroes, and to nominate somebody who works in care, click here