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In response to Peter von Kaehne's letter to the editor in the 16th
November issue of the BMJ (BMJ 2002; 325:1175) and the origianl article to
which it referred, by Adams (BMJ 2002; 325:S9) I would like to applaud Dr.
von Kaehne's practice of using face-to-face interpreters.
Government policy documents such as the NHS Plan 2000 and legislation
such as the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 emphasise the requirement
for services to be equally accessible to non-English speakers as they are
to those with English as their mother tongue. It is vital that
practitioners demand interpreting and translation services for their
patients.
In order to support service providers in their efforts to use
interpreters and translators effectively, the Maternity Alliance published
"As Good As Your Word: A guide to community interpreting and translation
in public services", written by Marsha Sanders. This book offers service
providers a comprehensive overview of the rationale for using an
interpreter, different models of interpreting, including an advocacy
model, and codes of practice that interpreters and advocates work to. It
also provides practice guidelines for working with interpreters as well as
information about setting up an interpreting service.
As Good As Your Word
Dear Editor,
In response to Peter von Kaehne's letter to the editor in the 16th
November issue of the BMJ (BMJ 2002; 325:1175) and the origianl article to
which it referred, by Adams (BMJ 2002; 325:S9) I would like to applaud Dr.
von Kaehne's practice of using face-to-face interpreters.
Government policy documents such as the NHS Plan 2000 and legislation
such as the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 emphasise the requirement
for services to be equally accessible to non-English speakers as they are
to those with English as their mother tongue. It is vital that
practitioners demand interpreting and translation services for their
patients.
In order to support service providers in their efforts to use
interpreters and translators effectively, the Maternity Alliance published
"As Good As Your Word: A guide to community interpreting and translation
in public services", written by Marsha Sanders. This book offers service
providers a comprehensive overview of the rationale for using an
interpreter, different models of interpreting, including an advocacy
model, and codes of practice that interpreters and advocates work to. It
also provides practice guidelines for working with interpreters as well as
information about setting up an interpreting service.
The book is available from Maternity Alliance, tel: 0207 588 8583;
Email: info@maternityalliance.org.uk
Alyson Turner
Maternity Alliance
Competing interests:
Maternity Alliance, a small voluntary organisation, could benefit from book sales.
Competing interests: No competing interests