Chair of Care Forum Wales wins two top awards

Chair of , Mario Kreft, has won two top awards for his work in the care sector.

Mr Kreft, who also runs Pendine Park Care Organisation Ltd won the award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Dementia Care in the UK in 2012 at the UK Over 50s Housing Awards.

He also won another award on behalf of Care Forum Wales for the Most Outstanding Public Initiative in the Care Sector in the UK this year, with the launch of the Academy of Care Practitioners.

Welsh Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths, said: “I am delighted that Mario and Care Forum Wales have been honoured in this way.

“This recognition for all his pioneering work and dedication for more than 25 years is richly deserved. Mario leads by example and is an eloquent and effective champion for social care in Wales.

“At the same time, he is lucky to have fantastic support from his colleagues at Pendine Park and Care Forum Wales while his wife, Gill, is his rock.”

Mr Kreft called the awards “recognition for the fantastic work done by the dedicated staff of Pendine Park and Care Forum Wales” and said: “It’s a huge team approach and is a reward for all the work that we’ve been doing together over the years to raise standards in social care and to promote the profession of social care.”

Mr Kreft was one of the main driving forces behind the creation of the Academy, the first body of its kind to be established in the UK.

The aim is to promote, support and develop care practitioners and raise standards in social care provision - and raise the status of the ‘undervalued profession’.

The launch of the Academy at the Senedd in Cardiff earlier this year came after a successful 12-month pilot programme.

Mr Kreft said: “People rightly talk about safeguarding service users, vulnerable people who receive a care service, but in my opinion not enough is considered in terms of safeguarding the social care workers.

“The whole social care system in Wales, and indeed the whole NHS system, is predicated on tens of thousands of people getting up early every morning and doing a really difficult job.

“It’s high time that group of people had the opportunity to join a professional body for vocationally qualified social care workers that is dedicated 100 per cent to them. “By showing respect for people who work in social care you’re also showing respect for the people they care for.”

Both in his ‘day job’ running Pendine Park and as the Chair of Care Forum Wales, Mr Kreft has been instrumental in driving up standards in dementia care.

Pendine Park's partnerships with the Hallé orchestra and Welsh National Opera have already earned them an award from Arts and Business Cymru.

The sessions have been staged for residents at Bodlondeb, Pendine Park’s purpose built centre of excellence to look after people with dementia.