Questionnaire survey of interpreter use in accident and emergency departments in the UK

Abstract

Objective - To determine the support for a national telephone interpreter from accident and emergency (A and E) departments across the UK, and the factors that may influence that support. To determine the nature of interpreter needs for these departments. Methods - Postal questionnaire survey of 255 A and E departments in the UK. Results - A total of 197 replies were received, a response rate of 77.3%. Altogether 186 respondents answered the question on support for a national telephone interpreter service and 124 (66.7%) would support one. Those departments in favour were no more likely to have required an interpreter in the last seven days (χ2 = 0.16, df = 1, p = 0.69), be in the inner city (Fisher's exact test, two sided probability, p = 1), have predominantly local population needs compared with tourist needs (χ2 = 0.65, df = 1, p = 0.42), or be current users of a telephone interpreter service (χ2 = 0.01, df = 1, p = 0.93). Seventy nine of 180 (42.9%) departments had used some form of interpreter in the seven days preceding completion of the survey. Seventy six of 86 (88.4%) of those departments using face to face interpreters had experienced difficulty obtaining an interpreter out of hours. Nationally, the following proportion of all A and E departments listed the named language as occurring among the three most common languages requiring interpretation: French 0.46 (95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.50), Urdu 0.30 (0.26 to 0.34), and German 0.24 (0.21 to 0.27). Conclusions - There is widespread need and support for a national telephone interpreter service that would match the requirements of 24 hour emergency health care provision.