Two North East care homes have been recognised for their outstanding cleanliness and safety standards after winning top honours in an NHS infection control award.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust carried out 53 environmental Infection Prevention and Control audits and 205 hand hygiene audits across South Tyneside and Sunderland as part of its annual IPC Excellence Awards programme.
Now in its third year, the award recognises care homes that demonstrate consistently high standards and a commitment to continuous improvement in infection prevention and control.
Homes are assessed on key measures including environmental cleanliness, hand hygiene compliance and overall commitment to safe, high‑quality care for residents, staff and visitors.
This year’s winners are:
Bedewell Grange Care Home, Hebburn
Thornbury Care Centre, Sunderland
Both homes achieved outstanding results across all assessed areas, demonstrating strong leadership, consistent practice and a clear dedication to protecting residents, staff and visitors.
Allenore Azizi is one of the Senior Infection Prevention and Control Nurses with the Trust.
She said:
“We are incredibly proud of the care home teams who have earned this year’s IPC Excellence Award. This is a clear testament to their commitment in upholding infection prevention and control standards.
“This achievement highlights the consistent effort, attention to detail and strong leadership within each home. Their commitment to maintaining the highest standards of infection prevention and control makes a real difference to care. I hope the teams takes great pride in this achievement.”
Samantha Thorpe, Home Manager at Thornbury Care Centre, said:
“I am incredibly proud of our entire team, who go above and beyond every day to ensure our residents receive the highest standards of safe, compassionate care, and this recognition is thoroughly deserved.
“Receiving the IPC Excellence Award is a tremendous achievement, and I am excited about what the future holds as we continue striving for excellence at Thornbury. I am honoured to be the Home Manager of Thornbury and it is fantastic to see our sister homes achieving such outstanding success, showing that together we are going from strength to strength across SLW Care.”
Gillian Laws, General Manager at Bedewell Grange Care Home, said:
“I am incredibly proud of my team at Bedewell Grange, they all go above and beyond for our residents. It was an honour to be recognised with an IPC Excellence Award and it demonstrates the high standards the team maintains on a day to day basis.”
Both homes have shown exceptional dedication to maintaining and improving IPC standards, achieving commendable consistency across all areas assessed. Their efforts set a benchmark for excellence within the local care home community.
