This year's complex needs category award winners were Elmore Community Services for their Anti Social Behaviour Support Service which aims to: reduce anti-social behaviour caused by people with complex needs, by helping individual clients to recognise and manage their behaviour, address practical issues and increase appropriate use of services. Read about the winning service on the Guardian Public Service Awards site here
Runners up were:
• Cool2Care aim to recruit, screen and train a bank of care-workers for families
with disabled children across England; who can either support the child
at home or out and about within the community. Cool2Care's model allows
families to have complete choice and flexibility in their childcare.
• Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust for their Working Age Dementia Service for individuals below the age of
65 with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of dementia. The aim is to
provide a service that gives sufferers access to timely assessment,
diagnosis, intervention and support.
Other Category Winners included:
A Safe Place to Talk Online
Transformation Category Winner : Big White Wall in partnership with the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust
Many people with psychological or emotional problems feel they have no one to turn to and bottle up their feelings, creating the potential for even bigger problems. To counter this, the Big White Wall (BWW) uses the ideas behind social networking to create a safe online zone where people can talk, share their feelings and use clinically designed psychological interventions and techniques to improve wellbeing.
Action to Prevent Tragedies
Skills Development Category Winner: City of Edinburgh Council
When tenants appeared at risk of suicide at one of Edinburgh's high-rise social housing blocks, staff on the estates often felt ill-equipped to cope. A concierge or housing manager might end up calling the police because they had no contact details for a tenant's next of kin or for other agencies that might be able to help.
But now the City of Edinburgh council has trained more than 200 of its frontline staff to spot the signs of somebody who might be at risk of suicide. The authority has also set up a multi-agency mental health awareness group with members from the police, social services and the NHS. The Scottish government's Choose Life campaign - a national initiative intended to reduce the number of suicides across Scotland by 20% by 2013 - is also represented.
Confidence via Culture
Care of Older People Category Winner: National Museums Liverpool
Heavy snow paralysed the centre of Liverpool in January, but it was not enough to deter the Gateway to Active Living project participants from their planned visit to the city's World Museum.
"They were there despite the odds", says Claire Benjamin, head of communities at National Museums Liverpool (NML). "Other groups, such as school parties, had cancelled that day, but it shows the importance this group placed on the project, and the progress they had made."
Eight months previously such outings would have been beyond the grasp of the group. All are older members of Mary Seacole House (MSH), a multicultural day service for adults experiencing mental health issues in the deprived Toxteth area of the city. They often battle with depression and a sense of isolation, but on that January day museum staff noticed their eagerness to engage
A full list of winners and runners up, including more details of the services is available here