11 Bluebird Care franchisees have been named as a top 20 home care provider across six regions, by leading home care reviews site, homecare.co.uk.

The awards are based on reviews from Bluebird Care’s customers and their loved ones, and feedback on home care providers were analysed by homecare.co.uk, before a top 20 list was drawn up for each region.

Providers were rated on: Overall Standard, Staff, Care/Support, Management, Treated with Dignity and Value for Money.

The full list is as follows:

THE CHICKEN whisperer is the nickname given to a Teesside care home resident due to her uncanny ability to calm an intake of feathered friends.

Mandale House Care Home, on Acklam Road, in Thornaby, has recently welcomed three new chickens as part of the HenPower project, run by charity Equal Arts.

Upon arrival, 93-year-old Irene Fleming built an immediate rapport with the birds, having years of experience looking after hens from her time in the Women’s Land Army during the Second World War.

After chatting to the creatures and calming them when they got flustered, Equal Arts associate Raël Rawlinson dubbed Irene “the chicken whisperer”

Irene said: “I love having hens here at Mandale. They’re such good girls. They remind me of my flock when I was a land girl.”

"Healthwatch Star" award presented to care company for treating patients like a family member

A Gateshead-based care provider that specialises in working with customers requiring care in their own homes has been awarded a prestigious award from the social care and health champion, Healthwatch Gateshead.

Bluebird Care Gateshead is based in the city's Team Valley and offers personalised home care visits, from 30 minutes to full live-in support. One of its clients nominated the service for a Star award. The Healthwatch Star scheme enables patients to nominate members of the caring professions who they feel have gone above and beyond in their care. The scheme is anonymous and the recipient receives a certificate to display at their place of work.

CARE home staff have completed a mighty mixed terrain 26-mile hike across the Peak District to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Six head office staff from the Hill Care Group, based in Chesterfield, took on the Peak District Mighty Hike in pouring rain following a heatwave earlier in the week.

Organised by Macmillan, the walk started at Darley Moor and wandered across the Peak District to reach Bakewell Showground.

The staff who completed the challenge included Stacey Forster, Kelly Perryman, Kirsty Wright, Sarah Stimpson, Samantha Jackson and Meaghan Cook.

They exceeded their initial target of £1,500 for the charity – reaching £1,725 in sponsorship so far. They’re now aiming to raise £2,000 and are still appealing for donations.

Home Instead Senior Care, the provider of award-winning in-home care, today celebrated receiving its fiftieth outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the highest possible rating available. The Wirral office became Home Instead’s fiftieth English office* to receive this highly coveted accolade.

Reaching the fiftieth milestone is an incredible achievement for Home Instead, it means an impressive 25% of the Home Instead network in England now boast this outstanding accreditation – compared to the average of home care providers in England which is just 3%.

Hilton Nursing Partners nurse Clare Gingell found herself in the middle of a bomb scare but showing her courage and dedication for her patients, she put their safety first.

Police cordoned off areas of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London following the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb on the site of a former hotel. However Clare was just about to visit a vulnerable patient.

Eager to get to her patient, who was receiving 24 hour care on the Home to Decide pathway, Claire she was able to sign a disclaimer that allowed her to enter the restricted area at her own risk. Once at the patient’s home she was able to explain the situation and ensure the patient was safe. 

A group of Sheffield nursing home residents are helping shape the city's health services.

Broomgrove - which is sited just off Ecclesall Road - has become the first home in the region to work in partnership with Healthwatch Sheffield on a project run with the city's Accountable Care Partnership.

The residents chose to look at ways to assess the disabled provision currently offered by the city's community dentists  and opticians as an area to study.

Broomgrove residents have spent the past few weeks working with Healthwatch Sheffield's Laura Cook to produce a comprehensive questionnaire to be given to care home residents across the city.

Glasgow is leading the way in closing medicine’s gender gap, thanks to a new initiative which was jointly launched on Wednesday 5th June by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the University of Glasgow.

Social care provider, Optalis, honoured dedicated care workers for their outstanding performance at the annual Star Awards ceremony, held at Easthampstead Park Conference Centre.

The event, which took place on 12 June, celebrates the exceptional work delivered by Optalis staff providing all levels of care and support and highlighting those who had been short-listed in different categories.

Employees were nominated in nine individual categories, which include, among others, awards in communication, respect, and continuous development. The awards are an opportunity to praise all individuals who have consistently exhibited empathy, a positive attitude, and dedication to the work offered to customers supported by Optalis’ services.

An outbreak of the Norovirus has forced medics to close hospital wards in Cornwall this morning. 

People are being urged to avoid the Royal Cornwall Hospital after three wards have been contaminated with the vomiting bug. 

Senior staff at the hospital have issued a "Black Alert", known as an "OPEL 4" which the NHS classifies as a "serious incident".

A Scottish company specialising in providing home-based care solutions has opened a brand-new office in Carluke to reach people requiring help outside of hospital in the region.

SRS Care Solutions, a complimenting business arm of Group SRS (Scottish Recruitment Solutions), welcomed Angela Crawley, local MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, along with local businesses, members of the community and service users for the special opening.

During her visit, Ms Crawley judged a ‘Bake Off' competition which was embraced by several businesses in the area, including Carluke Development Trust, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and LG Lash & Wax, who brought their bakes to the event.

The BBC has scrapped the free TV licence for all over 75s, meaning only those who receive Pension Credit will be exempt from paying the fee from next year.

There has been widespread criticism of the move to means test the concession, which was announced days after the D-Day anniversary coverage on the BBC and will affect millions when it comes into effect on June 1 2020.

Cygnet Health Care’s Sherwood Lodge and Sherwood House rated ‘Outstanding’ by Care Quality Commission

Sherwood Lodge rated ‘Outstanding’ across all five CQC categories.Cygnet now has the only two learning disability hospitals in the country to have achieved this extremely rare accolade

Cygnet Health Care is delighted to announce that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the care provided by Sherwood Lodge, Cygnet’s specialist learning disability hospital and Sherwood House, Cygnet’s specialist rehabilitation mental health hospital as ‘Outstanding’.

A care provider that failed in its duty to provide safe care and treatment has been fined £24,000 and ordered to pay £14,000 towards the cost of the prosecution, and a £170 victim surcharge, by North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

The Care Quality Commission brought the prosecution following the death of an 83-year-old woman at Gretton Court care home in Hartlepool.

The provider, The Hospital of God at Greatham, previously pleaded guilty at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, on 13 March 2019, to two offences: failing to provide safe care and treatment resulting a resident being exposed to a serious risk of avoidable harm, and a failure to provide safe care and treatment to the residents of Gretton Court from being exposed to a significant risk of avoidable harm.

The court heard how a new resident was admitted to Gretton Court on 25 November 2015. Due to them being at risk of falling from bed when resting, it was decided that they needed bed rails and passive infrared sensors (PIR), that sound an alarm when they detect movement. The resident’s need for bed rails was reassessed throughout 2016 and they were found to be of low risk of falling from bed. However, the provider had failed to ensure that staff, responsible for assessing these needs and the safe use of bed rails, had received appropriate training. A relevant safety policy was also not available. The bed rails remained in use.