BME Health Forum quarterly meeting, Westminster, London.

Language and interpreting services: A vital tool with gaps in coverage

The latest quarterly meeting of the BME Health Forum, a longstanding partnership dedicated to addressing health inequalities in Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, shed light on a number of critical issues facing Global Majority communities in London’s healthcare system. The forum serves to improve access to health and wellbeing services and amplify the voices of these communities in shaping healthcare policies.

Silent Sounds open the meeting with a lesson in inclusion

The meeting opened with our team members, Michelle Martin, Sales & Marketing Manager, and Sarah Hobbs, Deaf Services Manager, as the first guest speakers, offering an insightful overview of the organisation’s two-decade-long mission to break down communication barriers with high quality, responsive interpreting and translation services.

Michelle spoke about the growing volume of requests Silent Sounds receives for telephone interpreting, face-to-face interpreting, and video interpreting services, a trend that continues to rise alongside increasing demand across healthcare settings. She reminded attendees that every patient has a legal right to professional interpreting and translation services through the NHS, a right that is too often overlooked when staff suggest family members step in as informal interpreters. Michelle stressed that this practice not only undermines professional standards but also poses serious risks to patient confidentiality, the accuracy of medical information, and the emotional wellbeing of individuals – particularly during sensitive or high-stakes consultations.

Sarah Hobbs brought the session to life with an engaging and practical mini-lesson in British Sign Language (BSL). With humour, clarity, and charisma, she had the room “eating from the palms of her signing hands” as she taught basic BSL greetings and commonly used medical terms like “doctor,” “nurse,” and “pain.” Her demonstration not only broke the ice but also underscored the importance of everyday communication with deaf people, and the everyday actions healthcare providers can take to make services more accessible for the Deaf community.

Language services: A vital tool with gaps in coverage

The session lead to a major point of discussion being the effectiveness and accessibility of language services, especially within the NHS. While language support is generally seen as a success for outpatient services, the forum revealed a troubling gap in its provision for inpatients and emergency care (A&E). One of the most pressing concerns raised was the challenge of finding interpreters who can accommodate women balancing professional work and childcare responsibilities, especially for sensitive issues like domestic violence.

According to several attendees, interpreting services are often too focused on deploying interpreters who are willing to accept any job, sometimes neglecting the needs of vulnerable individuals. Additionally, there have been repeated instances of male interpreters being sent to domestic violence cases, further compounding the vulnerability of women in these situations.

Innovative solutions in interpreting services: A call for change

Lorraine Brown, interpreting services manager, Imperial Hospital shared her insights on how interpreting services could be better integrated into the NHS. She emphasised the need for interpreting service providers to rethink their business models. “There’s a real need to move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach,” she said.  With more than 80% of language demand at Imperial coming from Arabic-speaking patients, she proposed employing a full-time Arabic-speaking interpreter on-site, with a dedicated space in the hospital to support both face-to-face and remote interpreting. This model could streamline access, improve patient experience, ensure better continuity of care, delivering seamless interpreting and translation services throughout the UK.

A major issue raised during the discussion was the exclusion of travel and waiting costs from interpreting service frameworks. Lorraine and others stressed that this oversight leads to inefficiencies, rushed appointments, and demotivated interpreters, all of which have a direct impact on patient outcomes.

For the longevity of face-to-face interpreting as a viable career, it is essential that interpreters are paid fairly not just for the time spent interpreting, but also for the often substantial travel and waiting time between appointments. Without proper compensation, the profession risks losing skilled interpreters, especially in urban areas like London, where rising living costs are already pushing professionals further from the communities they serve.

The Forum agreed that sustainable, fair compensation models and integrated interpreter support systems are key to ensuring quality interpreting services in the long term.

Improved standards following tragedy

The conversation also touched on the tragic case of a Romanian child who died after missing two crucial medical appointments due to language barriers. The child’s family, unable to read a vital appointment letter in English, did not understand the need to fast before an MRI scan. Following this incident, the NHS introduced a new framework for improving community language and translation services. The framework aims to prevent similar tragedies and ensure that all patients, regardless of their background, have equal access to clear and comprehensible healthcare information. Read more about the NHS framework here.

The growing demand for interpreters: Who bears the costs?

One of the most pressing concerns among forum attendees was the increasing demand for interpreters in healthcare settings, coupled with shrinking budgets. While interpreters play an essential role in ensuring fair access to care, there are rising concerns about whether they are being paid fairly. Many London-based interpreters are also being forced to move out of the city due to soaring living costs, further exacerbating the shortage of qualified interpreters available for healthcare appointments. A significant question posed at the meeting was: Who should bear the costs of travel and waiting times for interpreters?

The forum also agreed that interpreting service providers must become more active at the grassroots level, working directly with communities to raise awareness of interpreting options, build trust, and encourage apprenticeships to grow and diversify the future interpreting workforce. By investing in local talent and developing clear career pathways, providers can help make interpreting a sustainable, long-term profession that reflects the communities it serves.

This proactive, community-based approach was seen as essential not only for capacity-building but also for ensuring that services remain culturally competent and accessible in the years ahead.

Next steps and moving forward

The BME Health Forum closed the meeting by reinforcing its commitment to tackling health inequalities through collaboration, advocacy, and culturally competent service delivery. By improving language access, respecting confidentiality, listening to patient voices, and ensuring interpreters are treated fairly, London’s healthcare system can become more inclusive and responsive to the needs of its diverse communities.

As one speaker summed up: “Language should never be a barrier to healthcare. But unless we address confidentiality, cultural sensitivity, and proper investment in interpreting services, that barrier will remain, silently doing harm.”

It was a great privilege for Silent Sounds to be present at the meeting, alongside some remarkable movers and shakers including Nafsika Butler-Thalassis, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care at Westminster City Council and Director at BME Health Forum, Tagwa Hamed of Forward UK, and Eli Bossassi-Epole of FAWA UK who are making real strides to break language barriers within their communities. The spirit of collaboration, shared learning, and commitment to equity was evident throughout – a powerful reminder that meaningful change begins with dialogue and continues through action.

The BME Health Forum continues to be a leading voice in ensuring that healthcare services reflect and respect the realities of London’s Global Majority communities. The lessons from this meeting are clear: equity in language access isn’t optional,  it’s essential.

Are you looking for responsive and trusted interpreting and translation services?  Contact us today! info@silent-sounds.co.uk