HC-One is celebrating an extraordinary double recognition in the 2026 New Year’s Honours List, with Sue Watson, Home Manager at Pytchley Court Care Home in Northamptonshire, being awarded an MBE and Anna Selby, Executive Director of Quality, being awarded an OBE, for their exceptional services to adult social care.
Together, Sue and Anna represent more than eight decades of dedication, leadership, innovation and kindness that have shaped not only HC-One’s approach to care but the wider social care landscape.
Over a remarkable 50-year career spanning acute, mental health, geriatric and prison nursing, both in the UK and internationally, Sue Watson has become known for her innovation, compassion and ability to transform services.
Since joining Pytchley Court in 2018, Sue has led an extraordinary turnaround of the home, moving from a
Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of inadequate to outstanding within six years. Today, the home is recognised for its holistic and recovery-focused approach and engages in research with the
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Dedicated to person-centred, dignified care, Sue has been twice shortlisted for the Dementia Care Awards and is widely respected for the deeply personalised moments she enables for residents, such as reuniting loved ones or creating meaningful experiences that honour lifelong passions.
Sue also plays a major role in developing the next generation of healthcare professionals through her preceptorship programme, university partnerships and volunteer development. Her contribution to community inclusion, including leading a local memory café and coordinating community events, has further strengthened wellbeing across the region.
With over 30 years of experience across adult mental health and social care, Anna Selby has been awarded an OBE for her transformative impact across the sector.
Her achievements include delivering the first Outstanding CQC rating for a retirement domiciliary service, supporting system-wide NHS transformation in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes and implementing dementia care innovations that influenced national commissioning.
More recently, Anna has defined HC-One’s organisational philosophy of caring with kindness, developed through hundreds of conversations with residents, families and colleagues, and during her leadership tenure, HC-One has achieved its highest-ever quality ratings.
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