to think if you want NHS care you should learn English or have an interpreter?

[theebayqueen]

My local town is now populated by 47% Polish - no problems as according to the figures 21% work so presumably speak English. I have to attend my local centre to see my Consultant and for scans. However, everytime I have been the centre is full of Polish woman who do not speak a word of English and expect the NHS to provide an interpreter. Thursday clinics are the worst as this is when the men have to attend the Job Centre to get "paid" so the ladies are left to fend for themselves. The men seem to be able to speak more English than the woman.

At first they were turned away as the MW's were unable to do their jobs properly but these ladies have filed a law suit against the clinic stating it is their human right to have NHS care as they are on the benefit system and that the NHS should provide full time interpreters for them.

If they win, does this not open up another can of worms that every person that can't speak English and on the benefit system is entitled to on demand interpreters?! This would then be another huge cost to the NHS.

I am in no way racist and if the UK wants to encourage people over here for benefits then so be it but when does the free stuff stop?! Should people not learn to speak English if they want to claim on the benefit system?

[eminemmerdale]

The nearest figure I could find is 35% of the population in Wisbech are Eastern European.

[ApocalypseThen]

Why can racists never write well? It's particularly noticeable when complaining about others' standards.

[Orwellian]

YANBU. The funny thing is that if you were a Brit living in Spain all these righteous Mumsnutters who are calling you a troll/racist would be telling you off for not speaking Spanish. How very double standard and how typical of Mumsnet!

[weegiemum]

I volunteer as an out of hours interpreter (I'm fluent in Spanidh, important in Scotland due to fishermen!)

Yes, interpretAtion should be standard,

[coffeeinbed]

it's the way we pay for the cheap cleaning ladies, builders, nannies and so on.
Win some, lose some...

[Boomerwang]

She still not back? Load of bollocks then.

[TheVermiciousKnid]

Still firing up that scanner... Maybe the instructions are in Polish?

[Jinsei]

MrsDeVere, I have searched for the story using a range of search terms. The only thing I found that seemed to relate to the legal action mentioned by theebayqueen was a link to the OP on this thread.

Strange that the only media interest in this story should be a small local newspaper that happens to have no website.

[Orwellian]

So, presumably if there is no issue with interpreters being needed for people using the NHS without being able to speak English, those people also have no problem with Brits in Spain who can't be bothered to learn Spanish and rely on interpreters?

[MummytoKatie]

Aside from the human aspect of it I would have thought that the cost of dealing with the damage caused by a health professional not fully understanding a patient would pay for a lot of interpreters. (I am thinking in particular of a 25 week pregnant woman showing signs of early labour and the possibilty of mis communicating between stomach ache and regular stomach pains that go away and come back again but that is just a random example I made up.)

As the doctor who delivered dd and saved both my fertility and my life was European I am very glad that there is free movement within Europe.

[brimfullofasha]

I know the OP has disappeared and I don't believe the story anyway. However, I work in a job that involves using interpreters regularly to give advice. I make sure I do this because I am responsible for the information I give and want to ensure the vulnerable people I work with understand me. I'm sure most medical professionals feel the same. However, I have known GPs ask women to bring their husbands to interpret for them to appointments when they wanted to discuss domestic abuse or unwanted pregnancies. Most people I work with are desperate to improve their English (especially women who rely on their husbands to interpret for them) but it isn't easy when ESOL provision has been cut massively.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

It is a minefield with relatives interpreting.
A couple of examples-
I was carrying out sensation tests and asked (via the daughter) for the patient to raise his hand when he felt the tester (his eyes closed)
After a few times I realised he was just lifting his hand. I put the sensor down and sat back. He carried on lifting.
I explained to the daughter that the test was void, I couldn't tell if he could or couldn't feel it.

Asking someone about types of pain - burning, pins and needles, stabbing pain, cramp.

I was told an interpreter was £70 for 30 minutes in our area.
And the places that did book them, many times the patient didn't turn up,

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Anyone remember the Holby storyline with the co-joined twins
(Yes I know it's not real life, but some of these storylines make me )

A couple arrive in A&E . No english spoken.(Can't remember where from)
The woman is pg (with twins) . How did they travel? Can't fly at that gestation, but hey! This is a soap.
There's an ongoing "we can't treat them, they're here illegally"
But the babies are co-joined and it would be such a coup for the Hospital to safely deliver and operate.

The Consultant (Lyndon) was by their side 24/7 (no other patients obviously) as was the interpreter (ditto).

Yes because that's how it happens

[indahouse]

I'm most offended with 'The men seem to be able to speak more English than the woman'.

I'm from Eastern Europe and we do believe in gender equality, thank you very much.. You probably see all foreigners as one dark backward mass.

English is compulsory in Polish schools, so you will struggle to find someone from my country with no English at all. Many people will use interpreters to stay on the safe side when dealing with serious issues. Quite often it's the HCP's initiative rather than the patients'. On one remarkable occasion the receptionist at my local GP refused to speak to me without an interpreter. She simply couldn't understand what I was saying. Marjorie Dawes suddenly became very real.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I speak Polish and Romanian and have offered my services to families at hospitals who were waiting to be seen and had difficulty making themselves understood - with the caveat that I couldn't help them with the medical stuff, but could help fill in forms and with the admissions process, and with the basic issue of what the problem was. I agree with Indahouse - sometimes it was a bad case of medical receptionist-itis, and the person who spoke basic, but comprehensible English lost confidence in making themselves understood.

[indahouse]

It really annoys me how DM readers some people assume that most foreigners are on benefits. In fact only 6% of non-UK nationals receive benefits comparing to 16% of 'local' people.

[cory]

indahouse Wed 23-Jan-13 21:20:00
"It really annoys me how DM readers some people assume that most foreigners are on benefits. In fact only 6% of non-UK nationals receive benefits comparing to 16% of 'local' people"

And that figure will include people who have been living and working in the country for decades and are fully settled there but do not, for some reason or other, have British nationality. People like myself if I were to lose my job tomorrow: I have had residency (and been paying tax) since the early 1999s, but would be included in the statistics for non-nationals.

[cory]

1990s, even

[mrlazysfishwife]

Indahouse I wonder if you use my surgery?! I have cringed on many many occasions at the receptionist SHOUTING SLOWLY at non-english patients and getting all huffy. It's ridiculously unprofessional, particularly as we live in East London.

I ended up in a Spanish hospital a few years ago. My DH can speak fairly good Spanish (I can order a meal and ask for directions ) but not enough for the medical stuff to make sense. The doctor that came to see me could speak really good English and explain what needed to be explained.

I honestly believe this country would grind to a halt without all the Eastern European migrants working bloody hard in all sectors. I don't think expecting an interpreter in a medical situation is too much to ask, I really don't.

[PandaOnAPushBike]

Where I live (not UK) you have to speak to a nurse when you ring to make a doctors appointment and they use a triage system. I needed an appointment because I had found a lump in my breast. I was given an appointment 2 weeks away and was very upset about it. My daughter rang them again on my behalf when she got in from school and was given a time later that day. Turns out I hadn't said 'I have a lump in my breast' I'd actually said 'I have a fat head on my case'.

[Umlauf]

I'm a Brit living in Spain. I have been here only 4 months and have fallen unexpectedly but delightedly pregnant. Have paid social security so I'm entitled to state healthcare, but no benefits when have to stop working.

No1 at my surgery speaks English (I asked!) but I dont feel entitled to an English speaking doctor or interpreter. I chose to move here. Instead, I take a dictionary, phrase book, google translate app etc with me. I don't think Yabu to think they should expect an interpreter, although yabu IMO to think the hospital should have been allowed to refuse care. That's not on. And the nhs, like the police, should (&do?) have an interpretation service.

[Madmum24]

The point is that the NHS (and other government bodies) are REQUIRED by law to provide interpretation services to anyone who needs them. This is why it usually asks you on forms "Do you require an interpreter?"

However, not all healthcare professionals either know this, or just want to pass people off, because they are often told (in my community anyway) that it is the PATIENTS duty to bring their own interpreter, whether it be paid worker or a family member.

I went to visit a friend who had a newborn baby in intensive care (she had only been in the country for about 18 months and only spoke very basic english) and the doctors were doing the rounds and started talking about the babies meningitis; the mother had no idea about this (she thought the baby was in ICU because of breathing problems) and the doctors felt that they had explained it to her and that she had understood. They didn't know that they had to provide the service for her.

Also when I was in labour the midwife kept calling my husband into the next delivery room as there was a lady giving birth (who spoke his language) who didn't have good english and the midwife was extremely ratty when my husband told her to get an interpreter.

Many of the educational institutions in the UK that previously allowed people to study courses (I'm referring to technical colleges, further education etc) changed the rules about 5 years ago meaning that unless you had permanent residency status in the UK you had to pay overseas fees, meaning that instead of £40 for the english class you had to pay £4000, which was a major barrier for many of my own community who were very keen to learn the lingo.