St Cecilia’s Care Group held its first awards evening at the Crown Spa Hotel in Scarborough on Friday.

The awards were presented to recognise the care delivered by staff across the group’s centres in Scarborough, Whitby and Pickering.

Saint Cecilia’s managing director Mike Padgham said: “It was an amazing evening and a wonderful opportunity for us to say thank you and show our appreciation to our hard-working staff.

“The feedback we have had from the evening has been excellent and inspires us to make this a regular event.

“Social care staff rarely get the recognition they deserve, and we felt it was time to do something about that. We got a great response, receiving almost 200 nominations across our awards, which made for a tough decision for our judges and a very exciting evening.

“After the challenges of the past three years, including the pandemic, this was a great opportunity to say the very biggest ‘thank you’ to all our staff.

“We presented awards and highly commended certificates to staff on Friday evening, but we were also saying how much we appreciate the work of all our 200 staff – they are all winners in our eyes. We are blessed to have each and every one of them.”

Former shadow chancellor and TV presenter, Ed Balls, who filmed sections of his two-part television documentary, Inside the Care Crisis with Ed Balls, at Saint Cecilia’s Nursing home, sent a special vide message of support during the event.

The winners were:

Saint Cecilia’s Values Award: Beth Fletcher

Emerging Talent Award: Sally Mason

Leadership Award: Tanya Wormald

Nurse of the Year: Daniela Botelho

Support Services: Highly Commended:  Paul Shippin; Highly Commended: Claire Gothard, Winner:  Paulina Werner

Care Worker of the Year: Highly Commended: Louise Woolgrove; Highly Commended: Jane Scurrah; Winner: Bryan Mattinson

Outstanding Contribution Award: Sarah Earp.