Information on Loughborough

Rainbows urges residents to get behind Andy

Posted on 06/06/09

Leicestershire Councty CouncilAdult Social Care Service

4 June 2009Rainbows urges residents to get behind Andy

Loughborough-based children's hospice Rainbows is backing a County Council worker who is in line for a prestigious national award.

Andy Hollingshead, who has been shortlisted for a Council Worker of the Year Award, has devoted a considerable amount of his own time to ensure that Rainbows manages health and safety effectively.

He has also been instrumental in helping the hospice receive three consecutive RoSPA gold awards for managing health and safety in the workplace and the charity is urging residents to show their support and give him the recognition he deserves.

Dramatically reducing assaults on County Council social care staff is among the many achievements of Andy who is a finalist in the 'transformation' category.

By bringing in simple but innovative procedures such as pocket-sized guides, special lone-worker training and satellite tracking, Andy has helped to cut the number of assaults by a staggering 80%.

Incidents have fallen from just over 1,500 in 1998 to under 350 in 2008, helping the County Council become a UK leader in this area. A large majority are not intended assaults but are a result of behavioural or mental health difficulties.

Andy works as a social care health and safety manager and through his 'can do' approach, has enabled hundreds of people to benefit from life-changing projects.

Through sensible assessments and advice which emphasises positive risk-taking, many unique and inspiring projects have taken off including:

- a woodwork group at Millfield Breaking the Barriers project in Hinckley where people with learning disabilities run a business making and selling bird boxes and furniture using power tools and equipment

- an allotment project at Roman Way Day Centre in Market Harborough where people with learning disabilities earn an income growing and selling local produce

- a recycling project in Loughborough and Wigston where people with learning disabilities recycle cans and foil, benefiting the environment

People can vote for Andy until 2nd July by:

- visiting www.localgovernmentchannel.com/awards

- texting 'LGATV 2 AndyH' to 80039 (texts charged at standard network rate)

- filling in voting forms at libraries, museums and service shops

Andy said: "People often blame health and safety as an excuse for other failings - you see it every day on signs saying closed because of health and safety. We very much have a 'can do' approach in Leicestershire as cocooning people in cotton wool is not the answer.

"Working with Rainbows over the past eight years has been fantastic and very rewarding. The staff, managers and board of directors work very hard to ensure children and young people are safe while exposing them to controlled and managed risk where possible.

"It is an honour to be nominated for this award and I am proud that my hard work over the past 11 years has made a difference."

Geoff Ellis, Chief Executive of Rainbows, commented: Andy has been a huge help to the hospice donating both time and expertise ensuring Rainbows health and safety policies, procedures and training are maintained to the highest standard. I can think of no one more deserving of this award.

To find out more about the awards and Andys story, visit: www.leics.gov.uk/doingmore

Notes:

Assaults to actual Social Workers, as opposed to Social Care staff, are a very small percentage of the number of incidents.

There are 40 finalists from local councils across the UK competing for 10 awards - Innovation, Community Engagement, Transformation, the Green Award, Working with Young People Leadership, Lifetime Service, Team of the Year, Bravery and Caring, and were chosen from over 320 nominations.

The 10 winners are chosen by the public vote and will each receive a trophy and 250.

The winners will be announced by BBC presenter Jeremy Vine at this year's LGA annual conference in Harrogate on 2nd July.

More information is available at:

RoSPA - www.rospa.com

Social Care - www.leics.gov.uk/socialcare

Council Worker of the Year - www.localgovernmentchannel.com/awards

Photos/interviews:

To arrange photos and interviews or for more information, please contact the County Council's Press Office on 0116 305 6274 or Rainbows.

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