Resident Doctors are on strike from 7 - 13 April. Please continue to attend appointments at the hospital unless you are contacted directly to rearrange. Our hospitals will be busy, but we are still here to provide emergency care when you need it.

Translation services / Interpreting

If you need translation or interpreting services as part of your contact with us, we can help.

To translate this information into another language, please click on the ReachDeck toolbar above and click on the Translate option to translate into the language you need.

More information on helping you reading or translating the information given can be found by going to Accessibility.

Any patient attending the hospital can have an interpreter. This can be requested by the doctor who referred you to the hospital, or by contacting your hospital team to make sure this has been arranged for you. 

We use professional interpreters

For a number of reasons we recommend that you use our interpreters and not family members or friends to interpret for you.

This is because:

  • You could be embarrassed talking about your condition
  • You may not want to provide information to the clinician if your family or friends are listening
  • You may not have medical information correctly interpreted for you
  • Your family or friend:
  • May not give you information if they feel it could be upsetting for you 
  • Could become upset, especially if they are a child
  • May be embarrassed to interpret some words
  • May not be able to interpret medical words, condition or treatment    
  • You may not be able to fully consent to treatment

If your carer is normally your interpreter, please try to tell the hospital team before your appointment, or when you come for your appointment.  

Interpreters in an Emergency

If you need to come to the hospital in an emergency, for instance you need to come in to A&E (also called the Emergency Department or ED), an interpreter can be requested on arrival. 

The A&E department can access an interpreter (video or audio) via an iPad to talk with you. This also includes British Sign Language. 

Methods of interpreting

Face to face interpreting 

This is available for:

Video and audio interpreting 

Over 200 languages are available for video and audio interpreting via an app on hospital  iPads  – more information can be found on the LanguageLine Solutions website. 

Telephone interpreting 

Over 240 languages are available via telephone – more information can be found on the LanguageLine Solutions website.

Deaf / Blind Communicator Guides  

More information about our supplier of these guides can be found on the website of the Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People.

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