Councillor Iftikhar Ahmed dishes out a special thank you to award winning health team

Councillor Iftikhar Ahmed, with members of staff who help deliver the award winning service

Councillor Iftikhar Ahmed cooked up a delicious biryani for the hard working team who deliver the award winning Intermediate Tier Service.

Scores of staff attended the event, enjoying an evening of fine cuisine at Wardleworth Community Centre.

They were thanked by Councillor Ahmed and Sheila Downey, the council's director of adult services, for their tireless work in delivering health improvements across the borough.

Councillor Ahmed said: “It was great to see so many council and health staff attending. The biryani was my way of saying thank you for the hard work of so many people. The pioneering service is reducing health inequalities, freeing up hospital beds and ensuring people are treated in the place of their choice. It’s a Rochdale success story to be proud of.”

Adult care services, in partnership with Pennine Acute Hospitals and Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG scooped the ‘health and social care’ award at the Local Government Chronicle awards ceremony.

Judges were impressed by the service which reduces unnecessary admissions to hospital, ensures people can leave hospital quicker and makes care more easily available in the community and people’s homes.