A/span> West Midlands-run care home group has clinched a prestigious award for being the “most outstanding” in the UK.

St Philips Care, which administers its 28 care homes in Scotland and England from headquarters in High Street, Wednesfield, collected the accolade at a ceremony organised by the UK Over 50s Housing Awards in London.

Dermott Kelly, managing director of St Philips Care, said: “We are delighted to have achieved this honour, which is a reflection of the passion of staff at all of our homes in delivering a high standard of care for our residents.

“The judges will have taken note of our inspection reports by the Care Quality Commission in England and the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, which are consistently better than average, with many of our homes rated as providing good and, in some cases, outstanding care.

“Their analysis, together with mystery shopper exercises at some of our homes, led to the judges deciding that we were the most outstanding care group in the UK in 2016.”

Mr Kelly and his predecessor as managing director, Paul Farmer, were presented with the award by Esmonde Crawley, editor of the Over 50s Housing Journal, at the Millennium Hotel in Knightsbridge, London.

St Philips Care provides beds for a total of 1,000 residents, placing it within the top 20 largest privately-owned, family-run care home groups in the UK.

Two of its homes are based in the West Midlands area – Ditton Priors Care Centre, near Bridgnorth, and Tunstall Hall Care Centre in Market Drayton, Shropshire.

The rest are spread from Cornwall up to the Scottish highlands.

The group is owned by Wednesfield-based businessman Gary Hartland and his brother, consultant physician Dr Andrew Hartland.

Gary Hartland is also an investor in independent school, St Dominic’s Brewood, which was recently rated in Government league tables as the best performing school in Staffordshire for its GCSE and EBacc results.

Mr Hartland, who has recently invested £300,000 in improved facilities at St Dominic’s Brewood, said: “We were already riding high to know that the school’s commitment to quality has gained such high recognition”

“Now we learn that not only the school but also the care home group that I own is rated as outstanding, which is wonderful news for everybody involved at St Philips and at St Dominic’s.”