Patients that present to our health service come from a variety of culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds and many of them often have limited English language proficiency.
Therefore, Patient Experience Week is an opportunity to highlight the important work that interpreters and translators perform in order to provide equal access to high quality services to our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) population.
Effective communication between providers and clients is an important element of high-quality and safe health and human services. Inadequate communication with clients who have low English proficiency or who use Auslan limits their ability to access services and to participate in decision-making processes.
Interpreter access is therefore vital for those with limited English proficiency as it is well reported in the literature that reduced interpreter access can increase patient risk and reduce patient experience.
Monash Health provides care to one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse regions in Australia with approximately 7.4% of residents within our primary catchment area reporting limited or no English proficiency. These rates are considerably higher than the national average of 3.5%.
Monash Health Language Services is the largest in-house language service in Victoria with a team of 72 staff interpreters, covering more than 30 top requested languages.
Medical providers have a professional and ethical obligation to treat all patients according to a standard of care determined by their field. This obligation cannot be fulfilled, regarding limited English proficiency individuals, without the use of professional interpreters.
Approved by Dr Anjali Dhulia.