If staff at PJ Care need inspiration they need only look at the story of their founder, Jan Flawn. She left school aged 15 without any qualifications but trained as a nurse when she was 30 after having a daughter with disabilities. She later gained an MBA and started PJ Care in 2000 at the age of 50.

She wanted to provide dedicated care homes for adults with neurological conditions because, at that time, the only option for them was to live in care homes for the elderly.

Flawn opened her first centre, Bluebirds, in Milton Keynes, in 2001. PJ Care opened a second centre, Mallard House, in Milton Keynes in 2005 and, in the summer of 2012, its flagship Eagle Wood Neurological Care Centre was opened in Peterborough.

Today it employs 600 staff and runs eight units in Milton Keynes and Peterborough providing specialist care and rehabilitation for almost 200 people with progressive or acquired neurological conditions, including Huntington's disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. The company also cares for people with spinal injuries.

Last year, Bluebirds neurological care centre was awarded Care Home of the Year by the Gold Standards Framework, for the care of people nearing the end of their life. The company also won Health, Medical and Social Care Employer of the Year in the national BAME Apprenticeship Awards.

"We are delighted to have won this award because we are genuinely attempting to remove barriers to employment and learning,” said Flawn's son and PJ Care's chairman, Neil Russell.