Meallmore has been named a finalist in four categories at the Scottish Care Care Home Awards 2026, one of the most respected celebrations of care home practice in the country. Three of our homes and one of our senior leaders have been shortlisted by the independent judging panel, and we could not be prouder.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow, on Friday 13 November 2026, the same day as Scottish Care's National Care Home Conference, The Home that Care Creates. Our finalists are:
- Kincaid House, Greenock - Palliative & End of Life Care Practice Award
- Kynnaird House, Fraserburgh - Nutrition & Eating Well Award
- Hilton Court, Rosyth - Specialist Service / Unit of the Year
- Jody Marshall, Group Catering and Hospitality Manager - Leadership Award
Each shortlisting tells a different story, from compassionate end of life care in Inverclyde to person-centred nutrition in Aberdeenshire, recovery-focused specialist care in Fife and a hospitality leader whose work has reshaped how food, housekeeping and dining are delivered across every one of our homes. Here is what sits behind each one.
About the Scottish Care Care Home Awards
Scottish Care is the membership organisation representing Scotland's independent social care sector. Its annual Care Home Awards shine a light on the dedication, innovation and achievements of the care home workforce, with categories spanning meaningful activity, training and staff development, leadership, palliative and end of life care practice, nutrition, specialist services, nursing, care workers and innovation.
Nominations closed in early September and every entry was reviewed by an independent judging panel before finalists were contacted. Being shortlisted means our teams' work has been measured against the very best practice in Scottish care homes, and has stood out.
Kincaid House: Palliative & End of Life Care Practice Award
Kincaid House in Greenock has been recognised for a whole-home approach to palliative and end of life care built on four things: earlier recognition, personalised planning, partnership with families and reflective support for colleagues. The team's belief is simple: every final chapter deserves skill, dignity and humanity.
Palliative care is everyone's work
At Kincaid, palliative care does not depend on job title. Training has reached care, nursing, domestic, kitchen and maintenance colleagues, so that comfort, dignity and support for families are part of every interaction. Nurses and senior carers have also completed Ardgowan Hospice's intensive six-week palliative care programme.
Notice sooner, plan together, respond with confidence
The home uses recognised tools including Resident of the Day reviews, RESTORE2, remote monitoring, SPAR and the Palliative Performance Scale to understand each resident's baseline and notice change early. That gives time to talk about wishes, plan ahead with the resident and their family, and bring in clinical support at the right moment. The team reports earlier intervention and fewer avoidable hospital admissions, helping residents remain in familiar surroundings when that is right for them.
Supporting the people who support everyone else
After a resident dies, colleagues take part in structured reflection through OSCaRS+. It gives staff space to share their experience, learn together and protect their own wellbeing, and has built confidence in symptom management, in recognising dying and care after death, and in conversations with families and with one another.
Learning that travels across Inverclyde
When the team identified that care home staff needed a clearer route to specialist palliative advice, Kincaid co-designed a practical referral flowchart with the NHSGGC Care Home Collaborative and Inverclyde District Nursing. That guide is now used across Inverclyde, and the home's OSCaRS+ learning has been shared nationally through an evaluation, an event and a case study. Kincaid works alongside Ardgowan Hospice, Marie Curie, the NHSGGC Care Home Collaborative, Inverclyde HSCP and district nursing as one network.
"Their ability to recognise palliative-care needs has greatly improved."
Nicola Duddy, District Nurse Specialist Practitioner
"A culture of learning, reflection and continuous improvement."
Heather Tonner, NHSGGC Care Home Collaborative
"Kincaid's involvement is contributing to wider learning and impact within the care-home sector."
Dr Julie Watson, Marie Curie
Kincaid's commitment reaches into the community too. In August 2026, residents, relatives, colleagues and local businesses came together for raffles, a tombola, baking and entertainment, raising £2,000 for Ardgowan Hospice. The hospice had cared for a colleague's relative at the end of life, so giving back was personal. The home's most recent unannounced Care Inspectorate inspection, in November 2025, graded leadership, staff team and setting as 5 (Very Good), and families have given Kincaid a 9.7 out of 10 review score on carehome.co.uk.
If you are exploring palliative care for someone close to you, our guide to palliative and end of life care in Scotland explains how it works and who to speak to. Every situation is different, so always talk first with the person's GP or clinical team.
Kynnaird House: Nutrition & Eating Well Award
Kynnaird House in Fraserburgh has been shortlisted for turning nutrition and hydration from a catering task into a shared care system, built around choice, dignity, clinical insight and everyday enjoyment.
Why a new approach was needed
Many people living at Kynnaird live with dementia, frailty, poor appetite or communication barriers. A written menu or a standard drinks round could not always turn need into meaningful choice. So the team set out to make choice visible, make care personal and measure the impact.
Food, drink and dining belong to everyone
The chef is part of clinical review, working alongside nurses, carers, the GP, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Care colleagues observe and encourage at mealtimes, and residents and families help shape the solutions. In practice that means:
- Visual choice - photographs make menus and drinks easier to understand.
- Food fortification - familiar meals gain energy and protein without losing their appeal.
- Bespoke comfort - milkshakes and fortified cappuccinos matched to preference and need.
- Social dining - encouragement and routine that rebuild appetite, confidence and connection.
- Small adaptations - such as a plastic plate that reduced distress from tremor-related noise and protected one resident's independence.
Hydra-Fruits: delicious hydration, every bite
One of the home's standout ideas is Hydra-Fruits: homemade, fruit-flavoured jelly cubes in strawberry, mango, coconut palm and lychee. Colourful, refreshing and easy to eat, they offer another enjoyable route to hydration for people living with dementia. When the approach was shared with the Care Inspectorate's improvement team in June, the Hydra-Fruits communication was praised as clear, engaging and "revolutionary", with the spotless kitchen also noted.
Eating well is now embedded in Kynnaird's rhythm through monthly "Your Day" reviews with a chef check-in, routine monitoring, focus weeks and staff learning, with garden-to-table herbs next on the menu.
Nutrition is a thread that runs through all of our homes. Read more about how our Academy of Care Kitchen Excellence trains our chefs, and why Meallmore won a Catey for Health and Nutrition this year.
Hilton Court: Specialist Service / Unit of the Year
Hilton Court in Rosyth, Fife is a 32-bed specialist mental health service for adults aged 18 to 65. It has been shortlisted for care that turns support into possibility: a home designed for recovery, not dependency.
Person before diagnosis
Care at Hilton Court begins with each resident's history, strengths, communication, relationships and ambitions. Domestic-style lounges with kitchens and self-contained flats make everyday life the programme, and progress belongs to the person, pursued at a pace that is safe and meaningful for them.
Positive risk-taking: a bigger life, safely supported
Residents build practical skills in self-catering, budgeting and weekly shopping, travelling with confidence beyond the home, understanding and self-managing medication, laundry and housekeeping, and breaking down the barriers to independent tenancies. Support steps back as confidence grows, without stepping away from safety.
Billy's next step began in the kitchen
Resident Billy became the first Hilton Court resident to graduate from Meallmore's Academy of Care Chef Excellence. He learned professional preparation, knife skills and the IDDSI framework, worked alongside Head Chef Robert Scott and the kitchen team, cooked beef stew for the whole home, and is now working towards paid employment. You can read the full story in From the Academy to the Community.
"I was proud because I cooked beef stew for the whole home."
Billy, Hilton Court resident
Community without walls
Meaningful roles restore identity and belonging. Residents volunteer at a local community hub, take on regular housekeeping responsibilities within the home and run a gardening group that grows, harvests, prepares and shares produce. Different people, different goals, the same right to contribute.
Raising standards beyond its walls
Hilton Court is home to Meallmore's first Kitchen Centre of Excellence, a regional training hub for chefs across the organisation, chosen for the home's strong leadership, training culture and culinary standards. Head Chef Robert Scott was named Meals Means More Champion 2025, Karis Callaghan was our Senior Care Worker / Practitioner of the Year 2025, and the home has been Meallmore's Specialist Service of the Year three years running.
The independent evidence is consistent. Hilton Court holds a 10 out of 10 score on carehome.co.uk from 71 reviews, 50 of them written by residents themselves, and was named a Top 20 Care Home in Scotland for 2026. Its unannounced Care Inspectorate inspection in September 2025 graded both "supporting people's wellbeing" and "quality of the setting" as 5 (Very Good).
"The staff here genuinely care about the residents."
Family member, July 2025
Find out more about the specialist care services we offer across Scotland.
Jody Marshall: Leadership Award
Our Group Catering and Hospitality Manager, Jody Marshall, has been shortlisted for the Leadership Award in recognition of relentless leadership in pursuit of the very best for residents and colleagues. For everyone at Meallmore, it is a very proud moment.
Under Jody's leadership, hospitality at Meallmore has grown into one of the most decorated teams in Scottish care, recognised well beyond the care sector:
- Catey Health and Nutrition Award 2026 - a win at hospitality's most famous awards.
- Employee Engagement and Retention Award at the Scottish Excellence Awards 2026, competing alongside Scotland's leading hotels and restaurants.
- Training, Learning and Staff Development Award at the Scottish Care Home Awards 2025 for the Academy of Care Kitchen Excellence.
- Outstanding Achievement - Care Home Award at the 2026 Hotel Housekeeping Honours, won by Hospitality Facilitator Chloe Pattisson.
- Shortlistings at the 2026 Public Sector Catering Awards, the 2026 Craft Guild of Chefs Awards and the 2025 NACC National Awards, where Jody was shortlisted for Catering Manager of the Year.
Jody's leadership is also visible in the programmes that sit behind those results: the Academy of Care Kitchen Excellence, the Kitchen Centre of Excellence at Hilton Court and our annual Meals Means More chef competition. It is no coincidence that two of this year's other finalists, Kynnaird House and Hilton Court, put food, nutrition and hospitality at the centre of their stories.
As Jody herself said when Chloe's award was announced, housekeepers and hospitality teams are "the quiet force that makes our homes homely". This shortlisting recognises the person who has spent years making sure that force is trained, valued and celebrated.
Building on last year's success
This year's shortlist follows a memorable night at the 2025 awards, when Meallmore won three Scottish Care Home Awards: the Training, Learning and Staff Development Award for the Academy of Care Kitchen Excellence, the Care Innovation Award for St Modans Care Home, and the Strategic Contribution Award for our Chief Operating Officer, Mary Preston. Airthrey Care Home was also a finalist for the Meaningful Activity Award.
Returning as a four-time finalist is a reflection of consistency across our homes, from Inverclyde to Aberdeenshire and Fife, and of the people who make that care happen every day.
Looking forward to 13 November
To be named a finalist four times over is already a huge achievement, and it belongs to every resident, family, colleague and partner who has been part of these stories. Our finalists will be heading to the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on Friday 13 November 2026, and we will be cheering every one of them on. We look forward to celebrating together, and to sharing the results here on our news page.
Congratulations as well to every other finalist across Scotland. It is a privilege to be recognised alongside you.
Want to see the care behind these awards for yourself? Explore our care homes across Scotland, read more about our awards and accolades, or get in touch with our team to arrange a visit, with no obligation attached. If you would love to be part of a team like this, take a look at careers at Meallmore.
