CYCLONE Marcia proved the ultimate test for a Rockhampton aged care facility's award winning program.

PresCare's Alexandra Gardens aged care facility has won a national award for a new program reducing unnecessary hospitalisation for residents, which proved to be highly effective during Cyclone Marcia.

The facility was recognised with the Team Innovation Award in the 2016 HESTA Aged Care Awards earlier this month.

Alexandra Gardens manager Sandra Thomson said within the first 12 months of the project, the number of residents transferred to hospital was halved.

"Our residents don't like to go to hospital and it's much better to intervene before they get to that point,” she said.

"Through this program, we were able to reduce the total number of days residents were in hospital by 57 per cent.

"We were able to show how effective the program was during Cyclone Marcia last year. For five days, we had no power and our staff were caring for residents in 40 degree heat, with high humidity and no air conditioning.

"It helped us to quickly identify which residents needed care and we had no hospital transfers - at a time when hospitals and emergency services were stretched.”