Oakland Care has been shortlisted for the Small Residential Care, Outstanding Response to Covid in Social Care, and Management Excellence categories at this year’s LaingBuisson Awards.
The care provider, which operates four care homes, achieved the remarkable feat of securing three shortlistings after providing outstanding services to its residents over the last 12 months.
On their shortlisting for the Small Residential Care award, LaingBuisson were impressed by Oakland Care’s enduring commitment to the health and wellbeing of both staff and team members. The care provider demonstrated an impressive increase in their level of staff engagement with survey participation rates jumping from 45% to 95%. Oakland Care has also reduced the rate of employee turnover by 37%, after year-on-year figures saw turnover reduce from 65% to 28%.
In response to their efforts to manage the current pandemic, LaingBuisson have also shortlisted Oakland Care for the Outstanding Response to Covid in Social Care Award. As an example of their outstanding reaction to the pandemic, the care provider kept all homes free of coronavirus by introducing a series of measures. These included closing to visitors very early on in the pandemic, purchasing significant stocks of PPE and cleaning products at the earliest point, closing staff rooms, cohorting groups of staff to specific areas of the homes, additional cleaning and extra hand-washing facilities.
The group was praised for its communication with relatives joining Zoom-based forums with Oakland’s leadership team, receiving fortnightly updates from the CEO and having contact with their relatives via video calls. Oakland Care were also among the first in the UK to reinstate safe visiting in early June with the introduction of bespoke summerhouses in their gardens.
Oakland Care has also been named as a finalist for the Management Excellence category. With an ethos that puts the wellbeing of residents and families first, the Awards Panel recognised the industry-leading quality of management displayed by Oakland Care. The care provider is also unreservedly committed to supporting its team members with Joanne regularly hand writing letters of recognition to those who provide outstanding levels of service.
Joanne Balmer, the Chief Executive Officer of Oakland Care, said: “To be shortlisted for three awards at this year’s LaingBuisson awards is a truly amazing achievement and one that the entire Oakland Care community can take pride in.
“As we look ahead, we will continue to build on these successes but always keep the health & wellbeing of our residents and team members at the heart of everything we do.”
