NHS spends £130k a day on translations for non-English speaking patients.

Casdon

What I think is that the NHS has over 1.7 million patient contacts every day, of which according to your source £130k is spent on translation. That is very little as a proportion of the NHS expenditure isn’t it? Given that the NHS is legally obligated to provide care to all users in a language they can understand, what alternative do you suggest?

Mandatory English classes as a requirement for entry to the UK. It's a very basic courtesy and the least that should be expected.

Quercus

That is a tiny amount relative to overall NHS spending, assuming you do mean £130,000. That is likely the same as the cost of one senior manager (including on costs).
Doctors are obliged to gain consent for just about everything they do and therefore it is essential that patients understand what they are consenting to.

I’d like to know what senior manager is earning £130,000 per day
This figure is not for a year it’s for a day

Erm 🤔 learn some English before thinking of coming to this country to live.

That is a tiny amount relative to overall NHS spending, assuming you do mean £130,000. That is likely the same as the cost of one senior manager (including on costs).
Doctors are obliged to gain consent for just about everything they do and therefore it is essential that patients understand what they are consenting to.

JenniferEccles

While we are on the subject, why don’t we charge these people for NHS treatment?
I know we have a reciprocal arrangement with Europe which is fine but how about the rest of the world? Why’s should they have access to free medical treatment?

We all know that when we go to the States we have to register our card details, which is how it should be, but we are as usual a soft touch.
Madness.

We have reciprocal arrangements with a few other countries but not with EU countries any longer unless you have an EHIC card.

Jennifer eccles - we do charge them. Foreign patients pay for their NHS treatment. (We don't always succeed in getting the bill paid as they are charged at point of discharge)

Iam64

My work often involved the need for translators. No good can come of asking the individual at the centre about abuse/drugs/alcohol if the interpreter is her husband, or other family member. Same goes for medical appointments, independent translators often needed

I only once accompanied anyone who was family to French appointments, dear son in law sawed his hand cutting one of our trees. The conversation wasn't too private, other than "what a twit" under my breath!
I mainly accompanied people on holiday, and children on school trips in loco parentis.

Interesting Louisa, I guess the patient can still retain their autonomy with a three way conversation, even with one person being on the end of the line? How much prompting goes on?
I must admit that using the phone in French is one of my hates, even after all these years of practice!

While we are on the subject, why don’t we charge these people for NHS treatment?
I know we have a reciprocal arrangement with Europe which is fine but how about the rest of the world? Why’s should they have access to free medical treatment?

We all know that when we go to the States we have to register our card details, which is how it should be, but we are as usual a soft touch.
Madness.

My work often involved the need for translators. No good can come of asking the individual at the centre about abuse/drugs/alcohol if the interpreter is her husband, or other family member. Same goes for medical appointments, independent translators often needed

FriedGreenTomatoes2

^Given that the NHS is legally obligated to provide care to all users in a language they can understand, what alternative do you suggest?^

Or that we change its remit?
European countries with fantastic healthcare (often with better outcomes than ours) don’t pander to their patients like this.

Just us mugs.

Exactly this.

escaped

Someone help me with the Maths.

IF it is £130,000 per day, and the NHS sources interpreters at a favourable hourly rate, that's about 16,000 patients a day requiring interpreters if you allocate them a 15 minute appointment. (Or even 8 - 9,000 if you give them a generous 30 minutes). Where are all these needy patients coming from daily? If it's just to help them navigating the system and wheeling them round departments, then just give them a printed card with all the details on and tell them to use their phones to research.

We use a telephone interpreting service...we dial in ...key in a code for the la.guage we want ...then an interpreter in linked into a 3 way call....we can use them for an hour ....or way longer ....I think 4 hours is the longest I've known one be used ( by me anyway)

I broke my arm once and went to a regional hospital. I have to say the doctor, a very pleasant young man, couldn’t fill out the forms because his English was very poor so I had to help him with spelling etc. So it works both ways! Moral of the story - avoid regional hospitals, stick to the city ones.

vegansrock

I would be willing to bet the court system spends even more on translators.

I’m sure the court costs are in the cloud somewhere but in 2022 the MET spent:
£1,668,729, 94 on Translaters.
£4, 568,838,70. On Interpreters.

1.7 million encompasses all contacts with professionals as I understand it, of which 1.4 million are with GPs.

I think that should be budgeting with one t by the way!

True, but not insignificant Casdon when budgetting needs to be reduced.
I assume "NHS contacts" means everything across the board, where no one really needs an interpreter for blood tests, BP checks, podiatry, stitching up a finger - just to name a few. I'm guessing the money mentipned is spent on solely consultant/GP appointments, otherwise it's totally unnecessary.

escaped

Someone help me with the Maths.

IF it is £130,000 per day, and the NHS sources interpreters at a favourable hourly rate, that's about 16,000 patients a day requiring interpreters if you allocate them a 15 minute appointment. (Or even 8 - 9,000 if you give them a generous 30 minutes). Where are all these needy patients coming from daily? If it's just to help them navigating the system and wheeling them round departments, then just give them a printed card with all the details on and tell them to use their phones to research.

16,000 patients a day needing interpreting services, out of 1.7 million NHS contacts a day is a very small proportion of the total though.

Health chiefs have spent almost £80 million on language and translation services since 2020 for patients who don't speak English.
Taxpayers' Alliance.

Someone help me with the Maths.

IF it is £130,000 per day, and the NHS sources interpreters at a favourable hourly rate, that's about 16,000 patients a day requiring interpreters if you allocate them a 15 minute appointment. (Or even 8 - 9,000 if you give them a generous 30 minutes). Where are all these needy patients coming from daily? If it's just to help them navigating the system and wheeling them round departments, then just give them a printed card with all the details on and tell them to use their phones to research.

When our eldest son had a stroke while living in Japan there were no translators offered. His wife did her best but she is not remotely medical.

My daughter has a friend who’s an audiologist in London. Apparently most of the patients require a translator. I think it’s a disgraceful waste of resources and the people who come and live here should have the grace to learn the language.

I guess it makes more sense for the hospital to organise an interpreter. So in the case of an incorrect translation, which could have bad consequences, would they then be held responsible?

BlueBelle

Louisa it doesn’t read that the patient had to pay Visgirl means the hospital has to pay !!!

Ah ok👌 ...I read it wrong then !

Louisa it doesn’t read that the patient had to pay Visgirl means the hospital has to pay !!!