Health
Within the NHS there are a vast range of languages which cannot be met through live interpreters in the 24 hour context of reception, treatment and departures in hospitals, surgeries and public health communities. The need for excellence in understanding to assure that the best prevention and treatment is achieved, and the ability for those working within the NHS to communicate and understand the needs of patients is paramount.
Failure to communicate with those in NHS care can have the potential of putting patients at risk and severely undercutting the trust in health workers, and at the same time undermining the reputation of the PCT as a cutting edge provider of health services to the whole community.
Failure to establish patient understanding and co-operation at an early stage in procedures can lead to alienation from the NHS during the ongoing processes of care and treatment. Establishing a sense of hospitality, care and ongoing ability to be supported and communicated at crucial points of interface profoundly changes the terms of engagement and the long term wellbeing of patients.
- Maternity wards
- Accident and Emergency
- Outpatients
- Visitors to Intensive Care
Patients and prospective patients whose first language is not English can find themselves in a distressing, frustrating and confusing environment when seeking health care provision. Giving birth to a child in a hospital without even basic English, understanding the provision of GP services for mental health care and sexual health/family planning becomes a happenstance of hospitals and surgeries affording interpreters or a short general leaflet. It is increasingly realised that preliminary research into the culture and religious concerns of the patient from different nationalities does need to be undertaken and that this will require a wide range of translated material in order to satisfy the requirements for full understanding.
Traditional forms of interpretation and translation are simply not enough for the current tool kit of provision in the service. It is essential that the cultural and contextual needs of the patient are researched and listened to, and then bespoke language solutions produced that enable practitioners to do their job effectively and efficiently. Then and only then will the diverse patient group be enabled to access the health care which they require. The failure to include an understanding of cultural beliefs has been shown by more than one senior academic report to be the least satisfactory part of the encounter between physician and patients from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
With the facility from our Secure Server to upload fresh information as policies, medical procedures and legislation changes, IbixTranslate is an unmissable addition to your hospital and PCT's provision for all your patients, affording equal access and understanding of hospital processes and procedures no matter what their nationality or country of origin.
For further details of our solutions for the Health Service please contact us today for a free booklet written for the Health Service.