Louth-based manager wins prestigious National Home Care Award

A Louth-based Engagement and Progression Manager with home care company Comfort Keepers has won a prestigious award at the 2025 Home & Community Care Ireland (HCCI) Home Care Awards, supported by Gallagher.  

John Sheridan, who has been working for Comfort Keepers for 14 years and lives in Co. Louth, was one of five who made the shortlist for the Social Innovation of the Year award. Last week, at a special celebratory event at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone, John was announced as the winner. 

Comfort Keepers, one of Ireland’s largest and most awarded home care companies, is this year marking 20 years of delivering quality, compassionate home care to individuals and families all across the country.

The Social Innovation of the Year award, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, celebrates an individual, team, or organisation that has made significant strides in improving the day-to-day well-being of its staff.  This award recognises efforts that have led to impactful cultural change within a business, fostering a more inclusive, nurturing, and supportive work environment.   

On winning the award, John Sheridan, Engagement and Progression Manager at Comfort Keepers, said: “I work with a great team and I am so honoured to win this award for some of my proudest contributions to the company to date – our internal progression policy and programme, and our new work permit process.

"One provides our staff with a real pathway for progression in the company, and the other provides dozens of our carers with job security for their future career here in Ireland. Both initiatives have made a big difference, and this is reflected in the number of carers that have progressed to new support opportunities and greater staff retention overall.” 

Collette Gleeson, CEO of Comfort Keepers, said: “At Comfort Keepers, we believe that everyone deserves to live a safe, happy, and independent life in their own home, and we understand that great care starts with people who feel valued and supported. This is why we invest in our employees' development from the very beginning and offer them a rewarding career.

“John is a very worthy recipient of this award. His work is enabling us to strengthen our retention and continuity across the business and have clearer visibility of our workforce’s long-term future. Both initiatives support stronger planning and stability as we continue to grow all across the country in response to the growing need for high-quality, person-centred homecare services.”

Joseph Musgrave, CEO, HCCI, said: “It is our pleasure to honour and celebrate those who work in the home care sector.   Their dedication and ingenuity make a real difference to home care clients and their families every single day, all over the country.   Sincere congratulations to all those shortlisted, the recognition is well deserved.”

Established in 2005 and as an HSE-approved provider of homecare and support services, Comfort Keepers was recently named, for the second consecutive year, Homecare Provider of the Year 2025. In recent years, Comfort Keepers has grown to nearly 2,000 employees with 19 nurse-led service teams providing care across all 26 counties.