Breaking down language barriers

BMJ 1998;317:816 ( 19 September )

Letters

Breaking down language barriers

Some ethnic groups may have problems in getting as far as a consultation

The public favours bilingual staff over interpreters

Don't forget deaf people

Sign here, please

Some ethnic groups may have problems in getting as far as a consultation

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

EDITOR $---$ Jones and Gill's timely editorial addressed the difficulties of general practitioners practising in a multilingualenvironment in the inner cities.¹

"A rapid access comprehensive telephone interpreting service in the NHS" may well help to make "equality of access more ofa reality for some ethnic minority groups." However, to enableequality of access to services, the difficulties faced by somelinguistic minority groups in getting as far as the consultationneed also to be recognised. Important components of a system thatwill enable full access to services for linguistic minority groupsinclude knowledge of the existence of services ² ³ and theability to contact them either by making an appointment in personor by telephone.⁴ For example, Vietnamese residents of Southwarkand Lewisham had major gaps in their knowledge of the NHS. Inparticular, they did not know about out of hours arrangementsfor general practice. Those with limited . . . [Full text of this article]