From Mike Bomford, Exeter 382173, July 02, 2008

Five teams and one individual member of Devon County Council's staff have received top honours for their achievements at an award ceremony at County Hall, Exeter.

The staff were category winners at the County Council's first ever Adult and Community Services (ACS) Staff Awards.

Exeter's Complex Care Team won the Partnership Working Award for their ground-breaking work in developing and piloting in 2006 a new way for people with complex care needs to access care.

The success of the pilot required close cooperation between health and social care staff from various organisations and agencies and also contributed greatly to improvements currently being made across the county.

New Treetops and Haldon View staff teams in Exeter, which both provide short breaks services for people with learning disabilities, won the Service User and Carer Involvement Awards. Both teams were praised for their exceptional service to people and their carers.

Teignbridge Short Breaks team won the Innovation category for their short breaks service for people with learning disabilities.

Maureen Cole, who has also worked with people with learning disabilities for over 25 years at the Kingsteignton Community Resource Centre, was awarded an Individual Award for her exceptional work. Through her fundraising efforts, Maureen has helped raise over £20,000 towards the Centre's amenity fund.

The awards were set up to recognise and reward the exceptional hard work and achievements of staff working in the Directorate.

56 nominations were received for the four award categories: Partnership Working, Service User and Carer Involvement, Innovation and Individual.

The 14 finalists attended an Oscar-style ceremony at County Hall where they were presented with their awards and certificates by judges, including: the Chairman of the County's Carers Forum, Sonia Barton; a representative from Devon's new Senior Council, Janet Crocker; the Chairman of Devon County Council, Cllr John Rawlinson; and the Director for Adult and Community Services, David Johnstone.

The winners each received a trophy, along with a certificate and vouchers.

The Chairman, Cllr John Rawlinson, said:

"The event allowed me the opportunity to congratulate and thank, on behalf of the County Council, these hard working teams and members of staff. My sincere congratulations go to all the finalists and to the very worthy winners. They are a credit to themselves and an inspiration to others."

Director, David Johnstone, said:

"The whole evening was a celebration of the exceptional hard work and achievements of some of our best members of staff. I was delighted to be able to hold the event, and to meet the finalists and winners and to congratulate these exceptional people and recognise their exceptional achievements.

"This is the first event of its kind we have held within Adult and Community Services. It was funded by the OLM Group and I would like to thank OLM for its generous support.

"I hope the ACS Staff Awards will become an annual event in our calendar."

Runners up included:

Partnership Working - Fulfilling Lives Team, Teignbridge, for their independent living skills training. And the Fulfilling Lives team in Okehampton.

Service User and Carer Involvement - 'Bodywise - Fit for Life' team; and the Exeter Complex Care teams.

Innovation - Supporting People team; Systems Support Unit; and Mid Devon Short Breaks team.

Individual Award - Rose-Marie Day of the North Devon Learning Disability team; Rose Rudge, Assessment Co-ordinator for East Devon Community Enabling Support Service; and Anthony Thomas of the Mid Devon Community Learning Disability team.