Karliner LS, Jacobs EA, Chen AH, Mutha S. Do professional interpreters improve clinical care for patients with limited English proficiency? A systematic review of the literature. Health Serv Res. 2007; 42:727-754
Translation services are central to effective communication with patients unable to speak English, or with hearing impairment. This article gives an overview of the cost of translation services in key secondary care locations and provides guidance on how best to optimize their use clinically. Freedom of information requests were made to 20 dental hospitals in the United Kingdom to ascertain the number and cost of interpreter and sign-language appointments. We highlight the importance of using these necessary but costly services effectively.
CPD/Clinical Relevance: Guidance is given on how to best use translator services in a dental setting, better ensuring valid consent and promoting patient autonomy.
Article
The inability to communicate effectively is a known barrier to using healthcare services.1 In the 2011 census, 726,000 individuals (1.3% of the population) in England and Wales stated that they ‘could not speak English well’, and a further 138,000 (0.3% of the population) reported being ‘unable to speak English at all’.2 This is likely to be an underestimate of the true figures within the UK, because individuals may be missed from the national census.3 Problems accessing healthcare as a result of communication difficulties have been shown to negatively impact the health of such patients.4
This paper aims to provide guidance on the effective use of translation services. The use of these services across dental hospitals in the UK is also described.
The Office for National Statistics estimated overseas net migration to the UK at 226,000 in the year to March 2019; this is almost twice the size of the population of Cambridge.5,6 Greater diversity in the UK population has meant that a larger number of individuals require translation services to effectively access healthcare.7 In the UK, 2.3 million people speak a language other than English at home.8
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