Friday, June 25th, 2010

According to The Scotsman, the number of hours spent translating health information into Polish by the NHS has soared taking up nearly 13,000 hours of translation.

Polish speakers are in fact now the largest minority group in Edinburgh with over 40,000 Poles living within the capital(1). The growing number of Polish residents and demand for public services provided in the Polish language has led to over £700,000 of expenditure on translation services by health chiefs. In contrast, only £500,000 was spent on Polish translation services in 2008 and NHS Lothian say the increase is due to the higher usage of health services amongst non-English speakers.

Specialised interpreters are often needed during health visits, even if the patient is competent in English. The complexity of a diagnosis and the language used means that many patients need interpreters present for reassurance and a solid understanding of what is going on. Global Voices is an experienced company when it comes to medical interpretation. It is the largest supplier of  interpreters to NHS Forth Valley and surrounding areas. Global Voices has also noticed a trend developing in Central Scotland over the last couple of years where Polish interpreters are often the most in demand when it comes to interpreting for public and health services.

The Scotsman also states that of the 26,100 hours spent face-to-face interpreting in NHS Lothian, 12,490 were for Polish with Chinese second most popular and then Arabic, Turkish, Bengali, Portuguese and Russian interpreters also being well used.

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