Care UK regional director wins the Care Operations of the Year trophy at the National Care Awards

The outstanding work of one of Care UK’s regional directors has been recognised with a prestigious win at the National Care Awards. Dave Ankers, who is the Regional Director for the Northwest, walked away with the Care Operations of the Year trophy at the 2022 awards. 

The National Care Awards are the longest established annual awards for the care sector. They highlight excellence and reward those who work tirelessly to provide consistently outstanding care.

 

All homes within Dave’s region are rated as either ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC. Since starting in the role in August 2020, Dave has supported two of his homes to improve to ‘Outstanding’ while another has been rated internally as ‘Outstanding’ across all five inspection categories.

Dave encourages the sharing of best practice across the region by enabling home managers and senior leaders to meet and exchange ideas, either virtually or in person. In the same way, discussions about what could be done better are conducted regionally, so that everyone can benefit from the wider knowledge. He conducts walk-rounds with the home managers on a regular basis, looking at all the different aspects of care - from residents’ wellbeing to the quality of documentation.

Dave ensures that training is carried out to the highest standard, delivered internally but sourcing external training where there is clear benefit. An example is a home which opened a high-end dementia suite – colleagues were given access to extra training resources to ensure the highest quality of care is provided to the residents.

“Dave has been my regional director for over 18 months, and to date he has never let me down. He strikes the right balance between encouraging autonomy, supporting me to develop my service with new ideas, initiatives, and products, whilst guiding me and always being on hand whenever I need him,” said Katherine Matthews, Home Manager at Perry Manor, Care UK.

On winning an award Dave said: “I am delighted to have won this award, which is as much for my colleagues and those in our care as it is for me. My thanks goes to everyone at Care UK who has supported me.”