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North Bristol NHS Trust Interprets Patients' Needs

North Bristol NHS Trust

North Bristol NHS Trust has appointed thebigwordGroup to help it deliver an efficient and  patient-centric service to patients with limited English speaking skills.

The challenge

The Trust serves a population of more than half a million people and last year, its medical teams delivered more than 5,400 babies and treated nearly 318,000 outpatients.

Recognising that in a proportion of cases, English is not the patient’s first language, the Trust took the decision to review its language support provision.

As part of this review, the Trust approached thebigwordGroup with the aim of improving quality of service and patient experience, getting greater insight into when – and when not – an interpreter is required, and obtaining the most efficient and cost-effective solution.

The approach

Existing data on interpreter use was collated and analysed. thebigword identified that, in a percentage of cases, the Trust would benefit from replacing the use of Face-to-Face Interpreters with a Telephone Interpreting service.

Telephone Interpreting (TI) enables two people who speak different languages to communicate over the telephone via an interpreter who is also on the line.

Conducting a three-month pilot for the Trust, thebigwordGroup found that in specific cases, TI had advantages over face-to-face interpreting:

• interpreters could be accessed quickly and on-demand, often within 60 seconds
• patient choice was increased by the ability to request (say) an interpreter of a specific gender
• the range of available languages was greater
• there was improved value for money without compromising service standards

Implementation

To assist the Trust in the appropriate use of interpreting services, thebigwordGroup held a number of focus group sessions engaging both staff and community groups. The end result provided a number of best practice scenarios that staff could relate to on a day-to-day basis.

From these best practices, the Trust was able to develop a set of guidelines which helped staff to decide, in any given situation, whether Face-to-Face or Telephone Interpreting was most appropriate.

An information and briefing programme was put in place to ensure staff are fully informed about the options, and benefits of both services.  As part of this programme, thebigwordGroup worked with the Trust to provide information for the Trust’s Intranet, and with key stakeholders to enable them to brief their teams, and appointed ‘Interpreting Champions’ who could be approached by their colleagues for advice on interpreting on a day-to-day basis.

This combined approach has ensured that all staff are empowered to meet the needs of patients with limited English speaking skills.

The system was set up so that all information on interpreting use – both TI and Face-to-Face – is collated through use of thebigwordGroup’s language management software platform, LanguageDirector®.

Benefits

Development of the Best Practice Guidelines and education of staff in choosing the most appropriate mechanism for interpreting has resulted in a significant rise in the use of TI and a subsequent reduction in the use of Face-to-Face Interpreters.

The increased use of TI alongside Face-to-Face Interpreting has enabled the Trust to continue to deliver high-quality patient interpreting services at best value for money.

The use of LanguageDirector® to collate data on language services usage has enabled the Trust to obtain real-time management information which provides transparency in the way the services are being utilised.

The information and briefing programmes have educated the Trust’s staff on the best use of interpreting services and the cultural and personal choice factors to consider when requesting an interpreter.

Outcomes

The Trust took the decision to implement thebigwordGroup’s service before the end of the three-month pilot.  The Trust now routes all its interpreting requirements though LanguageDirector®, providing ease of use and automatic capture of detailed usage data.

Sharon Hadley, Patient Information Officer for North Bristol NHS Trust says: "thebigwordGroup partnered with the North Bristol Trust to create an environment which ensures patients and our staff are able to communicate effectively, no matter what language is spoken. Interpreting is important for our patients and we are confident that this new service will give them what they need".

Doctors and patients at Kettering General Hospital speak the same language, thanks to thebigword

Kettering NHS

Kettering General Hospital is situated in one of the most diverse areas of the country and provide a wide range of services to a population of over 300,000 people.  As a result, the hospital has a large face-to-face interpreting requirement for appointments, often of a sensitive nature, with limited English speaking patients. 

Recognising Kettering General Hospital’s evolving interpreting needs; thebigword recommended moving face to face bookings onto their bespoke online system designed specifically for the public sector. This has enabled the hospital to realise some critical benefits including: 

• Reduced bookings administration and organisation time – The volume of bookings placed on a monthly basis was extensive with significant time being spent organising the bookings and filling out forms manually. With their new system, all bookings are now placed online, and repetitive details such as the venue and contact details are stored for use when needed. Kettering can now place new bookings more quickly and accurately, saving both time and cost. 
• Improved service to patients – As the system saves details of previous interpreters, Kettering are able to book interpreters they have used previously for regular patients. As appointments are often of a sensitive nature, this has proved to be an excellent way of improving patient service, and in ensuring patients are put at ease with a familiar interpreter at their appointment.
• Enhanced visibility through reporting information – Previously, spend and service usage review meant time-intensive collating and invoice analysis.  With their new online booking service, Kettering can access all reporting information from thebigword at the touch of a button.  Up-to-the-minute reports ensure they have access to the information they need at any point in the day, giving back precious time which can be focused on the most important job of serving the community.

thebigword’s dedicated online booking system has been Kettering General Hospital’s preferred booking method for over a year and it has made a real impact on the way the hospital organises and manages their interpreter bookings.

Whilst technology presents many benefits, thebigword backs up that technology with world class customer service and a direct phone line to the UK based Interpreting Team who can assist with any queries or issues that may arise, any time of the day or night.

I have been using thebigword’s online interpreter/translation request service since it was introduced and have found it to be a very quick, user-friendly way to make bookings, submit information for translation and retrieve translated documents.

The facility to call up reports on costs, usage and invoices is also a very helpful feature for analysing the demand of languages, thus enabling the trust to plan how to best to provide access to services and information.

The online service is backed by a very helpful team of interpreting coordinators who are readily available for advice and queries on assignments.

Moira Wilkinson, Patient Services Coordinator, Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust.