Team Sonnet wins coveted COVID award for residential care

St Mary’s Court Dementia care home in Braintree has been announced as the regional ‘Social Care Covid Heroes’ at the East of England Great British Care Awards.

The team at St Mary’s Court care home in common with other care homes, has had a challenging 18 months coping with the impact of the Covid pandemic.

Julia Clinton, Sonnet Care Home’s CEO, said: “It has been an incredibly difficult time, trying to keep Covid at bay and then having to deal with an outbreak when the Kent variant reared its head at the end of last year.

“This impacted both our residents and their loved ones, and our team, many of whom became infected and had to self-isolate.

Pictured are Sonnet CEO Julia Clinton (C) with activities team members Lianne Everett (L) and Debbie Davis (R).

“The award judges noted the approach we took right from the very beginning of the pandemic, establishing a Coronavirus Outbreak Leadership Team. Other senior staff and I also lived in at times and we all had to deal with a myriad of new protocols, testing and obtaining PPE, and so on.

“At the same time it was our mission to ensure that, despite all the restrictions, day to day the homes remained calm, sociable and as normal as possible for residents and the team alike.

“I would like to pay tribute to our team who have been truly heroic, putting their own fears aside to ensure that the residents remain at the very heart of everything we do. We have also received a lot of positive feedback about all the things we have done to try and keep people safe.”

The award was presented to the team for going above and beyond during the Covid-19 crisis. The company will now be judged at the national finals of the Great British Care Awards in September.

Tags: Great British Care Awards