Aylina Akhmadova

“Primary care professionals such as GP's, health visitors and midwives spend the most one-to-one time with families. They will be aware which patients and/or carers need assistance from interpreters for medical appointments. In primary care, professionals often give safety netting advice regarding the circumstances in which a person may need to call paramedics. For safety netting advice to be effective, patients and carers also need to know that a 999 call should be made by someone who is with the patient and that interpreters are available to help the ambulance service triage the call.”

“The use of informal interpreters in primary care settings can lead to patients and carers wrongly assuming that emergency assistance can only be accessed by someone who is able to speak English on their behalf. Where an informal interpreter is not with the patient, there is a substantial risk that they will not be able to give sufficiently accurate and/or up to date information to enable the Ambulance Service to reliably triage a call.”

“Using informal interpreters such as family and friends for primary care appointments can be a pragmatic solution when professional interpreters are not available. However, the practice carries a significant degree of risk as the informal interpreter may not convey information reliably. This can be mitigated in part if the healthcare professional is with the patient and able to form their own view of the patient's status based on the observations that can be made.”