Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024

We are thrilled to announce that we have been shortlisted for three categories at this year’s Oxfordshire Care Awards! This is a significant recognition of our commitment to helping autistic people live the lives they choose.

The Care Worker Award

Nominee: Esther Kariuki, nominated by Ava Cordiel

“Esther has consistently demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to providing exceptional care and support to those in need within our community.
Esther’s dedication to her role goes above and beyond the call of duty. She approaches each day with a positive attitude and a genuine desire to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Her compassion, empathy, and professionalism shine through in every interaction she has with clients and colleagues alike.
Not only does Esther excel in providing day-to-day support, but she also takes the initiative to identify additional ways to enhance the well-being of those she serves. Whether it’s organizing activities to promote social engagement or advocating for the specific needs of individual clients, Esther consistently goes the extra mile to ensure that everyone receives the personalized care and attention they deserve.
Her ability to build strong, trusting relationships with clients is truly remarkable.  She approaches each individual with respect, dignity, and an unwavering commitment to empowering them to live their lives to the fullest.
In addition to her exceptional caregiving skills, Esther is also a valued team member. She actively collaborates with her colleagues, offering support, guidance, and encouragement whenever needed. Her positive attitude and willingness to lend a helping hand make her an invaluable asset to our organization.
Esther Kariuki embodies the qualities of an exemplary support worker. Her unwavering dedication, compassion, and professionalism make her a truly deserving candidate for the Support Worker of the Year award. I wholeheartedly endorse her nomination and believe that she is an outstanding representative of the incredible work being done in our field.”

Ava Cordiel – Support Worker at Autism at Kingwood

Care Team Award

Nominees: Saxon’s Way Team, nominated by Jess McClory

“In the last year, amongst all of the incredible day-to-day support they provide, the staff team at Saxons Way have been part of two massive transitions.
In November 2023, they supported a gentleman to transition into a more suitable placement after he had been with us for 20 years. The team supported him to understand this move in terms of him ‘retiring’ from Kingwood, move him into his new home ensuring he was comfortable and visiting him, even outside of working hours, to help him settle.
Recently, we have had a gentleman transition out of a 9 year stay in secure services and into Saxons Way. Needless to say, this has been a huge piece of work. The team have gone above and beyond to make this smooth and successful for the individual. They have attended and deeply engaged in specialist training as the needs of this individual include areas we’ve not supported with before and they have taken it in their stride. They have taken on board the risks involved and managed their own feelings with this and then still achieved fantastic relationship building with the individual, his family and the multitude of other professionals involved. Everyone has stepped up when needed and delivered top quality support underpinned by care, understanding and dedication and the end result has been more positive than any of us could have imagined. The individual has moved in and is genuinely happy, receiving a 2nd chance at a normal life out in the community which couldn’t have been done without my staff team.”

Jessica McClory – Support Manager at Autism at Kingwood

“I have had the utmost pleasure of being part of a transition for a young man from Secure services to the Community provision of Saxons Way in Didcot.
Throughout the whole process of this complex case, I have worked with, alongside and as part of the Saxons Way staff team and managers.
This has been the best transition I have experienced in my 50yrs in Learning Disabilities.
At no point were the staff ever unable to accommodate requests from our service, keeping risk management at the forefront of everything and this alongside their incredibly kind and caring attitude towards the individual, always driving towards the best outcome for the person concerned, all of this whilst delivering the same standards to their current service users.
Effective, efficient, kind, compassionate and dedicated to their work in providing what has been the best and hopefully successful transition I have been involved with.
The personal touches, the welcome this young man received and the ongoing display of sheer hard work, determination and the end goal for success and happiness for individuals is second to none.
Thank you to all those involved and who made this a life event to be proud of. You are all a wonderful group of people.”

Kate Brown – Forensic Community Learning Disability Nurse

International Recruitment – Best Practice Employer Award

Nominee: Autism at Kingwood, nominated by Philippa Stannard

Autism at Kingwood started to employ support workers on sponsorship licence from June 2023, and is proud to have 40 colleagues who have joined the charity through sponsorship licence.  Autism at Kingwood will continue to recruit during 2024.

The charity has recruited support workers ‘in country’ and this has been an incredibly positive experience in different ways, benefiting the organisation, staff and most importantly, the autistic people Kingwood support,

Forty additional support workers means that Kingwood is fully staffed in most services – and this provides consistency and ultimately, superior care for those we support. It also means we are not in ‘staff crises’ mode, which has had a significantly positive impact of staff morale.

The cohort recruited has enriched Autism at Kingwood with a wealth of talent, with wide ranging qualifications and an injection of enthusiasm and curiosity about autism and care. Individuals have relished the specialist and mandatory trainings offered to them and are embracing our current digital transformation.  Since June 2023, two of our sponsorship colleagues had been promoted to a senior Support Manager role, with more expected to do so in the coming months. Retention has been excellent; only two people have left, and this is due to personal circumstances.

On joining Autism at Kingwood, as well as the usual benefits offered to staff, such as independent and free counselling and support or the Kingwood holiday home, the charity provided orientation support, including a buddy service.

Strikingly, the scheme has enabled Autism at Kingwood’s agency rates to drop dramatically over the year from 36% to under 10% – a vital cost savings for the charity.

Autism at Kingwood’s sponsorship colleagues have helped the charity create operational and financial stability and we are excited that they are journeying with us for a new and dynamic strategic plan.

Click here to watch “Would you recommend working at Kingwood?”

Quote from a parent of a person we support:
When EA was 24 years old, he moved to a new Kingwood service living in his own flat.  The new service had problems in recruiting enough permanent staff and relied on agency staff, some of whom did not know EA well which caused some problems, particularly over the Covid period.  However, when Kingwood joined the Government’s sponsorship programme for overseas support workers, Kingwood were able to recruit several additional permanent support workers.  Now that EA has a large team of permanent staff with excellent managers, there is an effective and positive ‘joined up’ working approach to his care. His support has improved significantly over the last 15 months and is now consistently good.