Balhousie Care Group, one of Scotland’s leading providers of quality residential care, is celebrating with four members of its dedicated team having been shortlisted for Scottish Care Awards.

The prestigious awards, which recognise the exceptional work of people across the care sector in Scotland, will announce the winners at a glittering dinner and award ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on November 15, 2019.

Highlighting the diverse roles within the organisation, two chefs have been shortlisted for awards as well as an outstanding carer and leading dementia expert.

Ben Haddow, Head Chef from Balhousie Luncarty care home in Perthshire, has been shortlisted for the Emerging Talent Award, which recognises an individual who is new to the role or has grown into their role and become a shining example to others. Ben began work at Luncarty as a domestic in the laundry team, before becoming a carer. He kept his cooking hobby to himself before impressing with his outstanding culinary skills. He is now Head Chef at the home and thriving in his role with many relatives requesting to eat with residents and sample his delicious dishes.

Shortlisted for the Nutrition and Eating Well Award, Lizzy McNielage is the Head Chef at Balhousie Rumbling Bridge. This award recognises the ‘whole home approach’ to food and nutrition with the care home and nutrition related activities in the care home. Lizzy has taken the lead on a number of initiatives including ‘Round the World’ dishes. This week residents enjoyed South African inspired meals including Mince Bobotie.

Also a National Care Award finalist, Lavinia Tanu, a carer from Balhousie Pitlochry has been shortlisted for Carer of the Year which recognises the consistent role of carers in providing a high standard of quality care. Lavinia, who grew up in Romania, has been providing residents with exceptional care since the Perthshire home opened 10 years ago.

Operations Dementia Manager, Yvonne Manson, has been shortlisted for the Management and Leadership award. Yvonne, a former RCNi Award Winner, oversees up to 100 dementia ‘ambassadors’ across Balhousie’s 25 care homes in the north and east of Scotland and is a leading expert in the field. She will be speaking about the care home group’s highly successful dementia strategy at the Care Show at Birmingham’s NEC next week on October 10.

Jill Kerr, Group Chief Executive Officer at Balhousie Care Group, said: “Across Balhousie Care Group, there is a reason we call our staff ‘Everyday Heroes’. Seeing such a diverse cross section of our team shortlisted for Scottish Care Awards is fantastic and highlights our commitment to providing the very best care in all aspects of our care provision, from delicious meals for our residents to having an outstanding dementia strategy to delivering exceptional care across our 25 homes on a daily basis. The nominations are very well deserved and we wish all our finalists luck for the awards on November 15.”