Event celebrates North East business success

Newcastle's Theatre Royal has been recognised as an Investor in People for the first time at a Celebration Event in Sunderland attended by businesses and organisations from across the region.

The Theatre Royal's Chief Executive Officer Philip Bernays credited Investors in People with "helping us to achieve record sales and win the coveted prize of Best Presenting Theatre in the UK".

The event, held by Investors in People North East on 26th May 2010, saw organisations involved in everything from education, care homes and health to leisure, finance, the law and construction presented with a range of certificates and awards. They ranged from those receiving their first Investors in People recognition through successful re-assessments to seven organisations receiving the prestigious Gold Award.

Rob Macleod, Managing Director of Investors in People North East presented the certificates and said: "You should all be very proud of your achievements as you are now amongst the top performing organisations in the UK. Investors in People is one of the most researched business improvement tools and has been proved to increase productivity, boost performance and profits. It has been shown that it is particularly useful for businesses undergoing significant or rapid changes," he added.

Carla O'May, Organisation Development Manager at One North East, the only regional development agency in the country to hold the Gold Award, spoke about the agency's experience with Investors in People.

"It has made a huge difference to our organisation," she said. "Investors in People is at the heart of One North East helping us to respond to our changing environment."

Gold Awards were also presented to NHS North East; ESCAPE Family Support; Westbourne Medical Group; Sunderland-based ETEC Development Trust; Wentworth Grange Residential Hotel for the Elderly in Riding Mill and Darlington College. Less than 1% of Investors in People businesses in the UK achieve Gold.

NHS North East also became the first strategic health authority (SHA) in England to achieve both the gold Investors in People status and its new Health and Wellbeing Award.

Rob White, portfolio manager at NHS North East said: "This is a tremendous achievement for everyone working at the SHA and an important recognition of our commitment to continuous improvement.

"Using the tailored Investors in People approach we will continue to improve our performance and productivity and ensure that the NHS in the region is best placed to continue providing healthcare of the highest possible quality - both now and in the future".