A South Lanarkshire care worker has been nominated to represent Scotland at a prestigious national awards.
East Kilbride-based home carer, Caroline Ledger, 63, is employed by South Lanarkshire Council and was put forward by a family she had worked with.
The Great British Care Awards are a series of regional events throughout the UK and are a celebration of excellence across the care sector.
The purpose of the awards are to pay tribute to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work.
National finals will be held in March in Birmingham and Caroline has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Scottish region category.
Caroline's nomination came as a complete surprise to her.
She told Lanarkshire Live : "I have been with South Lanarkshire Council for about 19 years now and I find the job so rewarding.
"I like working with people and those with complex needs and get a lot of job satisfaction - you couldn't do the job otherwise.
"For many years I did factory work but decided I didn't want to do that anymore, so did some volunteering in the care sector and decided that was the avenue I wanted to go down.
"This nomination came totally out the blue - when I opened the emailed, I thought it was someone having me on at first.
"But it was a family I had worked with before who put me forward. The person I was caring for had very complex needs through dementia."
Caroline, from Calderwood, who is married with two sons, added: "I am on the shortlist to represent Scotland - and just that is an achievement I feel, no matter what happens.
"I have had an interview and will just have to wait and see. The care sector isn't having the easiest of times and things are challenging so I just hope a little bit of good news like this is a boost for folk."
There are 21 categories available for nomination, which represent all areas of the social care sector, whether it be older people or specialist services, residential or home care.
From frontline staff such as care workers and care managers to people who have made an impact in other ways such as training and innovation.
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