Dals supports many NHS bodies across the country to break down language barriers and ensure full communication with their patients.
One such client, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, wanted further guidance on moving from traditional face to face interpreting to remote interpreting services.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is an acute hospital trust operating across Cheshire, serving approximately 300,000 people.
The trust has key values aimed at continuously improving the patient experience.
As Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s contracted language service provider, our goal is to support the organisation with the communication challenges it faces every day.
Our managed services solution is crafted for each client and the trust found that it needed its own to be more focused on remote options.
Dals was ready to deliver this vision. With remote interpreting options available on both an on-demand and prebooked basis, there were solutions fit for the trust’s requirements.
This move to remote was to address the challenge of sourcing rare languages for patients whilst also keeping down costs.
When an interpreter of a rare language is required for a face to face appointment, it might require a linguist to travel far to reach the meeting place, pushing up costs to cover expenses and their time.
Dals helped Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust adopt a mixed service line usage approach.
Following the move, the trust would use telephone interpreting and video remote interpreting to break down language barriers with their patients. Face to face interpreting would only be adopted when necessary for patient care.
Alongside this shift, Dals supported the trust in widespread promotion of the services and by providing training to staff. Dals has dedicated Implementations and Client Accounts teams, meaning clients are supported at every step of their contract with us and can reach out to their point of contact for whatever they need.
Our interpreting platforms are built in-house, ensuring training is from those who know it best.
Since action has been taken to direct the trust to prioritise the use of remote interpreting services over face to face interpreting, it has seen a reduction in cancelled appointments.
In addition, there has been a reduction in administrative tasks for staff involved with sourcing rare language interpreters. Overall, the transition has resulted in a more positive experience for patients with language requirements.
If you would like to know more about our language services, please get in contact and our team will soon be in touch.
