https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/improvement-framework-community-language-translation-and-interpreting-services/#recommendations-for-nhs-trusts
27
May 2025
Improvement framework:
community language translation and interpreting services
[…] Recommendations for NHS
trusts
Actions for NHS trusts
Leadership, quality and
professional standards
·
Ensure senior, director-level leadership and accountability for the
provision of quality translation and interpreting services within the trust.
·
Maintain governance oversight of translation and interpreting services
under a board-level committee, ideally the quality committee.
·
Ensure there is a policy in place for translation and interpreting
services and a set of clear protocols or standard operating procedures (SOPs).
·
Apply service improvement methods to develop and strengthen services,
using feedback mechanisms for patients and staff to help drive meaningful
improvements.
·
When procuring for a new translation service provider, ensure
qualification and training standards are defined and the interpreters are
registered (for example, with professional bodies such as the National Register
of Public Service Interpreters). Build quality metrics that can be regularly
monitored into contracts.
·
For large trusts with significant language needs across the catchment
area, the trust involved may want to consider establishing an in-house
interpreting service. The case study outlined below provides an example of a
trust where volunteer and bank interpreters were used to bridge the language
gap successfully.
Access and barriers to
services
·
Make sure that any new procurement of translation and interpreting
services is based on the needs of the population the trust serves and focuses
on quality as well as cost.
·
Develop and support trust staff so that they understand patients’ rights
to interpreting support and local procedures for accessing them.
·
Review and update referral templates for use by primary care to ensure
they include the language needs of the patient.
·
Review and develop local methods for accessing interpreting services,
including appropriate balance between phone and face-to-face interpreting.
Equity, cultural
sensitivity and rights
·
Establish clear escalation pathways within services to address and
resolve incidents of discrimination, making sure language rights are included
and accountability is in place at a local level.
·
Actively involve patients and communities in coproducing and improving
interpreting services and other equity-focused measures, ensuring cultural
sensitivity and inclusivity.
Digital opportunities and
challenges
·
Ensure patients’ language needs, preferences about the gender of
interpreters, and other communication preferences are accurately recorded in
patient records.
·
Note the risks and liability issues over the use of AI interpreting
tools and take account of planned policy briefings from NHS England or the
Department of Health and Social Care on the use of these tools in clinical
settings. Ensure any use of AI tools for interpreting only operate in the
context of clearly defined trust policy and risk assessment.
Safety, confidentiality and
consent
·
Develop translated consent forms at the local level to ensure patients
with limited English proficiency fully understand and can participate in the
consent process. To maintain consistency and quality, local consent forms
should adhere to national standards.
·
Align delivery with the National patient safety healthcare inequalities reduction
framework, which sets out 5 principles to reduce patient safety
healthcare inequalities across the NHS. […]
