TWO nurses from a Basingstoke care home have secured top honours in the South Division Barchester Care Awards.

Bianca Garcia and Janet Cook from Ashcombe House, Worting Road, received the Registered Nurse of the Year and the Life Time Achievement awards, respectively, and are now progressing to the national judging stage.

The awards highlight the stellar efforts of staff serving the needs of 13,000 residents across 261 care homes and private hospitals.

More than 5,000 nominations came in from across the country, making the achievement of Bianca and Janet, who beat hundreds of rivals, even more remarkable.

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As South division winners, they'll now attend an awards event in October, joining winners from other UK regions, where the national award winners will be declared.

Bianca said: "I am so happy to have won this award, I am privileged to work with such a brilliant team at Ashcombe House. We strive to ensure we are delivering the best person centred care to our residents and I love being the deputy manager here."

General manager, Louise Lambert, said: "This is an amazing achievement and the whole home is supporting Bianca and Janet. We are so proud of them. Janet has worked for Ashcombe House as senior carer for 29 years and Bianca manages a strong clinical team supporting and guiding them ensuring our residents receive the care they deserve, in safe hands of the team."