Pentrefoelas care home pays staff to learn Welsh on their days off
Cartref Bryn yr Eglwys funds Friday classes for carers from a dozen countries, because nine in ten of its residents speak Welsh as their first language.
By
Lowri Evans
In brief
- Staff at Cartref Bryn yr Eglwys in Pentrefoelas are paid to attend Welsh classes on their days off.
- The home is among the first to join a Bangor University-led initiative for social care workers.
- Learners take an eight-week course and receive a certificate recognised by the National Centre for Learning Welsh.
Carers, cooks, cleaners and nurses at a Pentrefoelas care home are giving up holidays and days off to learn Welsh, and the owner is paying them to do it. Cartref Bryn yr Eglwys wants residents to be looked after in their mother tongue, the Daily Post reports.
A care home where most residents think in Welsh
Owner Meryl Welsby, who opened the home in 1990, says many residents find it easier to express themselves in Welsh, particularly when they are unwell, in pain or experiencing memory problems. That is the reason she is funding staff time for the lessons.
Recruitment is the other half of the story. Ms Welsby says it remains very challenging to employ local people, and the home advertises locally without response. Her staff therefore come from a dozen countries, among them Nepal, India, the Philippines, Romania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Poland, England and Scotland. The home is a Home Office sponsor and brings nurses and carers from overseas. Some have been there for five years, and she says they live in the village.
How the course works
| Detail | What the home reports |
|---|---|
| Format | Two-hour classes at the home on Friday afternoons |
| Length | Eight weeks, as a formal course |
| Who attends | Cooks, cleaners, administrators, carers and nurses |
| Who pays for staff time | Owner Meryl Welsby |
| Provider | Learn Welsh, North West at Bangor University, for the National Centre for Learning Welsh |
| On completion | A certificate recognised by the National Centre for Learning Welsh |
The home is one of the first to take part in a new Bangor University-led initiative tailored for social care workers. It signed up after tutor Mair Rees, who lives in Pentrefoelas, approached Ms Welsby. Both of Ms Rees’s grandmothers were cared for at the home. “Both my grandmothers have been cared for here in recent years so it was nice to be able to offer something back for the care that they received,” she said. She is the health and social care tutor for Learn Welsh, North West.
Ms Welsby described the arrangement plainly: “It is a funded course, but we are actually paying all the staff to come in on their holidays and days off.” Everyone in a care home deals with residents, families or friends, she says, which is why the whole team is included.
Phrases for the bedside and the front door
According to Ms Welsby, the course “focuses on verbal interaction rather than vocabulary and written word and it has been designed especially for the social care environment.” Learners practise introducing themselves, their role and where they work, and saying what they like and dislike. They also learn to ask residents the same, which Ms Rees says is important for personal care.
Staff are encouraged to use the Say Something in Welsh app, and Ms Welsby says she now hears them greet visitors at the front door and answer the phone in Welsh.
Two learners explained their motives. Sandhya Dahal, a nurse from Nepal who has worked at the home for two years, speaks Nepali, English, Hindi and Punjabi. “I’m enjoying the course because I like learning new things and this will help me interact with my residents and get to know them better,” she said. Carer Neethu Raj, from India and nearly four years at the home, said: “Learning Welsh will be very helpful to communicate with the residents and their families.”
Who to contact about Welsh courses
- Mair Rees at Bangor University: [email protected]
- The National Centre for Learning Welsh: [email protected]
Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels
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