BMJ 1996;312:53 (6 January)

Letters

Telephone interpreting service is available

EDITOR,--I am surprised that Michael Phelan and Sue Parkman's article on working with an interpreter1 does not mention telephone interpreting: a unique service was pioneered in Britain by Language Line in 1990. After a trial at the Royal London Hospital, Language Line's telephone interpreting service is now used daily in 15% of NHS trusts nationwide, including major teaching hospitals such as King's College Hospital as well as specialist centres such as Great Ormond Street Hospital. Health care providers using this service are increasing rapidly.

Phelan and Parkman's article outlines many areas in which the four types of interpreting identified (that by bilingual health workers, trained interpreters, friends and relatives, and untrained volunteers) often fail to meet basic needs. A scarcity of the first two types of interpreting means that professional resources are often not available when and where needed. Use of the last two types leads to the risk of . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

How To Do It: Work with an interpreter
Michael Phelan and Sue Parkman
BMJ 1995 311: 555-557. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Webb, E. (2005). Stereotypes and semaphore, leave them coming back for more, pieces missing, nothing fitting, complications galore. EDUCATION AND PRACTICE 90: ep11-ep14 [Full text]  
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