A CARE home which lost a high proportion of residents after a devastating outbreak of coronavirus has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award.

A total of 17 people died at Stanley Park, in Stanley, during the first wave of the Covid pandemic in spring.

Memorably, in April, ahead of the VE Day commemorations, a Vera Lynn tribute act performed for residents and powerful footage from the moving open air concert was seen around the country.

So far, the second wave has not claimed any further lives and the team is now a finalist in the Outstanding Care in a Crisis category at the National Care Awards

Home manager Christine Dudley said: “This has been a heart-breaking time for everyone at Stanley Park, and we continue to feel the loss of the residents who passed away very deeply.

“To be shortlisted for a National Care Award is testament to my team’s invaluable hard work and determination to ensure every resident is always treated with care, dignity and compassion, and that has been even more important over the last year.

“Each day, my colleagues astound me with their positivity and hard-working attitude, and I’d like to say a huge thank you to each and every team member for their efforts in making Stanley Park a wonderful place to call home.”

The Care UK team was nominated following its ‘unwavering commitment to providing great care for residents throughout the pandemic’, and for ‘ensuring their needs and wellbeing remained the highest priority at all times’.

Members of the team quickly adapted to the new circumstances, from pulling together to fill the roles of team members self-isolating, to ensuring relatives remained able to keep in touch with their loved ones.

One member of the nursing team even moved into the home for three months to ensure that the best possible care could be provided around the clock.

Commenting on the care of her grandparent, one relative said: “If there is any home in the country that deserves this award it is this one, the carers are special, they don’t just do a job, they make people’s lives better.

“I call them the ‘Angels of the North’”

The team will find out if it has won at a virtual ceremony on November 24.