Fish tank donation to spinal room

A Hospital's Spinal Unit has welcomed new visitors.. The North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, took delivery of 2 fish tanks. 1 has been donated by design business Ryu Creative, which is run by a patient at the Spinal Centre, Ryan Forshaw. The other has been donated by Aqualease; a Blackburn based company which supplies fully serviced aquariums to education and health care sectors.  The 2 fish tanks now have pride of place in a Day Room used by patients. The day room was officially opened last month. Emily Hoban, who runs the Spinal Centre, said:- "The day room has been total refurbished and now provides a fantastic environment for our patients. We are really grateful to Ryan and the team at Aqualease for donating the fish tanks."

Ryan, 37 from Leigh near Wigan, was paralysed from the shoulders down after being involved in a serious accident in 1996. He said:- "Aquariums are abundant in health care benefits. The donation aims to help fellow patients during their rehabilitation periods."

Ryan works with Aqualease on its design and marketing and this is how the donation came about. Dan Green from Aqualease added:- "We are delighted to make this donation to the hospital and hope that the patients enjoy watching the fish. Fish tanks can help improve physical and mental wellbeing. We think they will add to the calming atmosphere of the room."

The North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre cares for people with spinal cord injuries from Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria, Cheshire, parts of North Wales and the Isle of Man.  It is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for the treatment of people with high cervical spinal cord injury.

Social care employers urged to enter Accolades awards

NOMINATIONS are open for Skills for Care's national Accolades awards and local adult social care organisations who deliver high quality care are being urged to enter. The Accolades recognise excellence and innovation offered by adult social care providers in 10 different categories reflecting the diversity of a growing sector worth £43 billion to the national economy. Previous Accolades finalists say making it to the awards ceremony gives them a chance to have the outstanding work they do recognised by an expert panel of judges and show how their high quality care provision changes people's lives.  Skills for Care CEO Sharon Allen said:- "Our job is to support the learning and development needs of 1.5 million adult social care workers so they can meet the needs of the people they work with, and this is a chance for employers to have a national platform for the outstanding work they do in their communities. Adult social care is not always great at saying how good local services are so please get your entry in as this is a chance for organisations to have their much deserved turn in the spotlight. I've seen for myself how it much it means for all our Accolades finalists to have national recognition for their teams."

The 16/17 awards categories are:-

► Best employer of under 50 staff.
► Best employer of between 51 and 249 staff.
► Best employer of over 250 staff.
► Best individual who employs their own care and support staff.
► Best employer support for registered managers.
► Best employer support for Apprenticeships.
► Best recruitment initiative.
► Most effective approach to leadership and management.
► Most effective approach to integration and new models of care.
► Best endorsed provider of learning and development.

The Accolades are open to organisations of all sizes and individual employers. Entry forms are now available online.  The closing date is:-1 Friday, 23 September 2016 and the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Liverpool, on Thursday, 9 March 2017.