Abstract
Introduction: World wide migration has led paediatricians to come in increasing contact with a number of patients with limited language skills. We examined the extent of the problem and the provision of interpreter services to paediatricians across the UK.
Methods: Consultant paediatricians in the UK were invited by email to complete an anonymous web based survey. Information was collected on the languages spoken by the paediatricians, the languages needing interpretation, methods of interpretation used and the difficulties faced.
Results: Of the 647 responding paediatricians, 462 (76.1%) spoke English as their first language. About 202 (33.9%) can speak only English. French (32.1%), Hindi (15.1%) and German (9.1%) are the languages most commonly spoken by consultant paediatricians across the UK. Polish was the language most commonly needing interpretation (58.1%), followed by Urdu (50.4%), Bengali (44.3%) and Somali (37%). A majority (54.5%) of the paediatricians have 1-5% of their patients with limited language skills. Most (89.4%) paediatricians needed interpreter's upto 4 times a week. The availability of a bilingual family member (78.6%) and bilingual staff (61.3%) and difficulty accessing a professional interpreter (30.4%) were the most common reasons given by the paediatricians for not requesting a professional interpreter.
Conclusions: In the UK, Polish, Urdu and Bengali are the languages most commonly needing interpretation. The ready availability of adhoc interpreters and the difficulty in accessing professional interpreters seems to prevent paediatricians from using professional interpreters. Urgent measures are needed to address this growing need.
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Thyagarajan, B., Rawal, J. 1136 Language Barriers to Paediatricians: A Prospective National Survey. Pediatr Res 68 (Suppl 1), 562–563 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-01136
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-01136