A trainee social worker who shook up a council's care at home service has been named Student Social Worker of the Year.

Susie Allison, on placement with Dumfries and Galloway council, realised care companies were refusing to take on work in remote rural areas, and devised a week-long schedule to make visits viable, enabling the council to seek providers on a more efficient basis. The initiative, described as "astounding" by judges, meant patients who would otherwise have been in hospital blocking beds were able to move home and NHS staff were freed up for other duties.

The awards, hosted by the Scottish Association of Social Work, also recognised Rhoda Harper, an Argyll and Bute children and families social worker who was named social worker of the year, and Bill Blyth of children's charity Aberlour who won residential care worker of the year.