The team at the Laurels Care Home in Draycott have been celebrating their annual Country Court Staff Awards.

Traditionally Christmas is an opportunity for directors at Country Court, who run the home, to visit the Laurels Care Home to say thank you in-person to staff teams for all their hard work and to celebrate with their Staff Awards.

This year the awards have gone ahead virtually - with nominations made online, the judges have reviewed the entries and the winners were announced in a series of virtual award ceremonies throughout December, with the directors broadcasting from their own Santa's Grotto.

"The Country Court board of directors are extremely proud of our staff family in 2020," said Alykhan Kachra, co-CEO.

"Every day in our homes across the country we have seen examples of how our teams have gone above and beyond to keep our residents safe, often putting them before their own families.

"We are very lucky to have such a supportive and devoted group of people, the awards are an important opportunity to celebrate the positive work going on in our homes. Our staff should be proud of the difference they have made to people's lives."

There were more than 1,000 nominations across the group from staff and residents, and their families.

This year it was clear how much families appreciated the efforts of staff to keep their loved ones safe and how much staff had supported each other throughout the pandemic.

Winners at the Laurels Care Home were housekeeper Karen Marshall, care assistant Gemma Sweeting and housekeeper Sally Stevens.

A colleague who nominated Gemma said: "Anyone who was prepared to work as hard as Gemma during the early stage of pandemic, putting our residents first and not seeing her children or family, deserves an award."

Another staff member said: "Gemma made the hardest decision to separate herself from young children at the height of pandemic to ensure she could continue to safely care for our residents."

The award categories are aligned to the company's three core values of "Local home, national family", "Shared experiences bring us together" and "Celebrating life every day".