Britain's Best Care Home 2009 Award winners and runners-up to be announced on Friday January 22, 2010.

PRESS DISPENSARY - Monday, Jan 18, 2010 - Best-care-home.co.uk, the independent website that lists England's best care homes as nominated entirely by care home users, relatives and visitors, will this week announce the results of the 2009 Best Care Home Awards - believed to be the only British care home awards voted on by user ballot.

Voting took place from July to December 2009 through the Best-care-home.co.uk website, with England divided into four regions: North, Midlands, South East and South West. Each region is to have a winner and two runners up, with one care home being voted overall National Best Care Home 2009.

Winners and runners up come from:

North: Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire;

Midlands: Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, North Lincolnshire;

South East: Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Essex;

South West: Devon (x2), North Somerset.

The results will be announced on Friday January 22, 2009. The winners will be informed in advance and the announcement will be made by press release and online at www.best-care-home.co.uk, at which time photos and winner statements will be made available, together with broadcast quality video footage of the National Best Care Home 2009 Award being given at the winning care home.

Best-care-home.co.uk was launched in July 2009 by Debbie Harris of Tunbridge Wells, following her own frustrations in trying to find a care home for a relative.

Debbie - a Dignity Champion under The Department of Health's 'Dignity in Care Campaign' - says: "When you're trying to find the best care home for a relative, you start with Yellow Pages or search engines, plus government ratings. And then you're stuck. 13% of homes have the highest ratings and there's nothing else to separate them on paper except what they say about themselves. What you really want to know is what their own users think of them, so Best-care-home.co.uk enables potential new users and relatives to see which care homes real users think are best."

To appear on Best-care-home.co.uk, and to be eligible for the Best Care Home Award, homes must have a three star 'excellent' rating, the highest standard available, from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). They do not pay to be listed or to be entered into the awards and the site is entirely independent. It is also free to users, as Debbie covers her costs purely through affiliate advertising.

Debbie continues: "The Best Care Home Awards recognise England's best homes from the most important point of view: their users. Although 2009 was our first year, we had more than 100 nominations and the winners were chosen purely on the voting."

For more information about the regional winners, call Debbie Harris on 07810 837 331 or email debbie.harris@best-care-home.co.uk .

Notes for editors

About Best-care-home.co.uk

Established by Debbie Harris in 2009 and funded solely by Harris, Best-care-home.co.uk aims to reassure users that there are good care homes available in England by only listing homes that have a three star rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and then inviting feedback from users and relatives. The idea for the site came as a result of Debbie's own experience of trying to find a care home for a relative.

About the Best Care Home Awards

The 2009 Best Care Home Awards nominations began when Best-care-home.co.uk was launched. Users and relatives can nominate and vote for any care home in England that has a three star 'excellent' rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

About the 'Dignity in Care Campaign'

The Department of Health's 'Dignity in Care Campaign' was launched three years ago and its present ambassador is TV celebrity Michael Parkinson. Dignity Champions are people who are committed to taking some action, however small, in order to create a care system that has compassion and respect for those using its services.

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