Alcohol at care home so residents can ‘feel normal’

THE director of a Carmarthenshire care home who applied for a licence to serve alcohol said he was determined that residents had a chance to feel normal towards the end of their lives.

William James initially applied to serve alcohol until midnight at Gwernllwyn Care Home, Cross Hands, seven days a week but reduced it to 9pm following a meeting with licensing officers from Carmarthenshire Council and Dyfed-Powys Police.

He has now been granted a premises licence by a council licensing sub-committee.

In addition to the 9pm deadline, alcohol can only be sold to care home residents or their guests and just in the groundfloor restaurant area from Monday to Saturday. But the restriction does not apply to Sundays, when the public can come in for a Sunday roast.

Mr James told the sub-committee that the bar would not be open every night and that its use was intended for birthday parties and for Sunday lunch.

“I only need the licence to make the people (residents) feel that they are normal, and that we are not taking that away from them,” he said.

“When everybody comes to that age, you feel abandoned and put into a room and forgotten about. I want the home to feel it’s another chapter in life.”

Mr James added that he wanted to stick up for residents.

“We’ve got to think about end of life because we are all going to be there,” he said.

What was more normal, he said, than someone – in this case a care home resident – buying an alcoholic drink with Sunday lunch?

Regulator Care Inspectorate Wales visited Gwernllwyn Care Home in February last year and described it having a warm and homely feel, with residents and their families happy with the care and support they received.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr James said only lager and wine would be sold, and that the idea was to encourage more mixing at the home on Sundays.

Asked what staff would do if a member of the public asked for several drinks on a Sunday, he said: “The drink only goes with the meal.”

Mr James also said a bowling alley and coffee shop – both open to the public as well as residents – would open soon at the home, along with an extension to increase the number of rooms from 42 to 68.