Translation support in urgent and emergency care services
During our previous visit to St. Mary's Hospital's urgent care and emergency services, several service users whose first language is not English expressed concerns about the quality of service. The London Ambulance Service addressed these concerns by providing translation assistance to service users during calls and on-scene contacts.
In the event an individual phones and their first language is not English, a third-party translation service may be employed to assist the Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) in capturing the details of the call at the time of the 999 or 111 contact. This is done by connecting the interpreter to the call once the relevant language is confirmed.
If frontline clinicians require language support, they have access to the language line via their phones as well as the relevant insight program on their devices, allowing them to video call with the interpreter, which also supports British Sign Language.
The pre-hospital communication guide is available to assist on-scene communications for service users with a variety of communication needs, including learning disabilities, hearing impairment, people who do not speak English as their first language, and people who have developed communication difficulties as a result of injury.
