The chief executive of a Colchester health and social care company has won a prestigious national award. 
John Niland of Provide, on Colchester Business Park, has won in the Social Enterprise category of the Entrepreneur Award. 
Provide delivers health and social care services to 1.9 million people across Essex, Cambridge, Peterborough and north-east London. 
It is a mutual, operating as a staff-owned company since 2011 when it separated from NHS Mid Essex. 
Judges praised Mr Niland’s leadership style and method of measuring success, which is based on feedback from service users. They also praised his willingness to expand into new markets. 
Mr Niland said: “I am extremely pleased to have won this national award and I feel very privileged to lead an organisation whose staff are so passionate about delivering high-quality services. 
“Becoming a social enterprise was a big step, but it has given us the freedom to really improve the way we deliver care.
“An example of this is in speech and language therapy, where we are piloting a scheme which uses technology to deliver clinically effective therapy to patients in their own homes. 
“The social enterprise model also means that if we work more efficiently, then we can use any surpluses to develop our services and to reinvest in our local communities.
“One example of this is that we have committed £750,000 to local voluntary and community organisations in mid Essex.”