Breaking down language barriers

BMJ 1998;316:1476-1480 ( 16 May )

Editorials

Breaking down language barriers

The NHS needs to provide accessible interpreting services for all

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The movement of human populations over vast distances in the search for a better or safer life is not new,¹ but the 20thcentury has been distinguished by migration on a unprecedentedscale: 90 million people may now live outside their country ofbirth, over 13 million of them refugees.² Their countless individualjourneys have transformed the demographic characteristics of largeWestern cities, which are now home to many different minorityethnic communities.

The NHS was established before the period of greatest immigration into the United Kingdom, and doctors could once have expectedto share the same culture and language as their patients. Thisexpectation has changed $---$ minority ethnic groups comprise 6% ofthe UK population³ $---$ but it is far from clear that the NHS asa whole has changed rapidly enough, especially in the inner cities,to meet the challenge posed by patients whose English may notbe good enough to . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Interpreting services are not enough: Nigel Smith
bmj.com, 24 May 1998 [Full text]
Bilingual staff provide a more accessible service: Kamaldeep Bhui
bmj.com, 2 Jun 1998 [Full text]
An approach to communication problems in healthcare services: Manuel J Castillo-Garzon, et al.
bmj.com, 12 Mar 2003 [Full text]