Manchester NHS foundation trust spends £3.7million on translation and interpretation services in three years

By Felicity Robertson 

Manchester’s NHS Foundation Trust spent £3.7 million on translation services in the last three years.

Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the third highest spending foundation in the country behind London and Birmingham with regards to translation and interpretation costs.

Yvonne Davis, Head of Communications and PR for Central Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “From a health point of view if someone needs medical attention we need to understand from that individual what is wrong in order to treat/care for them and the patient needs to understand what treatment is being given in order for consent to be taken.”

Interpretation and translation services are costing the NHS £60,000 a day according to a new report.

Written translation and interpreters cost NHS trusts a staggering £23.3 million last year, an increase of 17% since 2007.

Research Thinktank obtained the figures through Freedom of Information requests. It has been claimed that money could be saved by creating a central pool of pre-translated materials which all hospitals and GP surgeries could access.

Julia Manning, chief executive of 2020Health, said: "Our research shows that the NHS spends an incredible £60,000 every single day on translation services. That is over £20,000,000 a year.

"The most glaring problem is that NHS trusts translate their own material, rather than have access to a central pool of translated documents.

"The costs involved are truly staggering in an age of austerity, and incredible when taken in the context of the 'Nicholson Challenge' of saving £20 billion across the Health Service.

"Urgent action must be taken by trusts to stem the flow of translation costs and our report sets out a number of recommendations that would do exactly that without altering the level of care given."

The thinktank have recommended translating material in to basic English as opposed to numerous different languages as well as providing a central library of pre translated information.

Ms Manning said: "The NHS has been told by its own patient feedback that documents in simple English - instead of medical jargon - would be acceptable to most people currently using the translation services.

"It wouldn't take much effort to drastically cut the £23 million of taxpayers' money that is spent each year on bureaucratic and often duplicated translation fees, and free the money up for treating patients."

The report revealed that trusts across Birmingham spent £4.9 million between 2008/09 and 2010/11 on translation services, the highest spend outside London.

Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spent £3.7 million over the same period.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust spent £2.4 million, while Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust was the biggest spender in London, with £2 million.

London trusts comprised 15% of the trusts surveyed, but were responsible for 31% of the total spend, the research showed.

Although the cost of translating documents has fallen, there has been a rise in the cost of interpretation services within the NHS..

It has also been questioned that whether translating such material is really beneficial in the long term as it could create a system where non-English speakers are ostracised from the English-speaking public further.

Emma Boon, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers will be shocked that so much is being spent on translation and interpretation in the NHS.

"They expect their money to be going towards treatment for sick people, not on language services.

"It is even more worrying that some trusts cannot provide a breakdown of what this is costing them; this shows a worrying lack of control over finances.

"There will always be a need for some interpretation, for example if people visiting the UK get sick and need emergency treatment.

"But those who live in Britain should make an effort to learn to speak English so that they are not burdening services like the NHS with ongoing costs for translation."