Care Home Nursing Award

As the complexity of residents’ clinical need increases, the skills, competencies and availability of nursing staff in care homes is increasingly important. They play a fundamental role in ensuring residents receive high quality, safe care and are treated with dignity and respect.

Open to registered nurses and nursing support workers working in Scotland’s care homes. This award aims to recognise the impact and importance of nursing in social care and those who have made an outstanding contribution to care and quality of life for residents in a care home. 

A registered nurse or nursing support worker who is delegated work by a registered nurse and is working in a clinical role in a care home setting in Scotland. This could be in a local authority, or the independent or third sector.

The nominee should clearly demonstrate:

• a commitment to person-centred care, innovation and delivering high quality services that make a difference to the people receiving care
• the positive impact of their work for residents, families and colleagues
• the use of a credible evidence base and/or developing an evidence base to underpin the work for which they are being nominated
• how their work contributes to the delivery of local and national policy and strategy within health and social care.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the awards, please get in touch by emailing scotlandnurseawards@rcn.org.uk

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Interim Care Home Manager, Nightingale Care Home, Sterling Care Homes Ltd

Described by her colleagues as a care home manager with a passion for improving the care and services offered to the residents of the Nightingale Care Home. These improvements are clearly evidenced in her nominations for her work on food, fluid and nutrition (FFN). Working with NHS dieticians and being open to learning from nutritional audits, Arlene has completely overhauled food provision, developing the whole team to be upskilled in FFN. Her holistic approach has also seen her develop the environments where food is served, creating innovative calming spaces for residents. Arlene also encourages resident to be part of decisions about menus, encouraging resident to join staff on trips to the shops to buy the food that will be served. Other initiatives introduced by Arlene support physical fitness with adapted spin classes, yoga, and themed activities for events such as Wimbledon. Her nominators note that Arlene has turned this care home around despite the challenges of the pandemic and the wider challenges of recruitment and retention of staff. Arlene is keen to note that her staff work with her and not for her, she is always seen in the same uniform as her team and often assists care. Her staff are supported to contribute to the ongoing improvements within the home. Arlene is keen to raise the profile of holistic care home nursing and the positive outcomes it can achieve.