Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Service: Translations and interpreting
Language: Some of the languages requested by the Trust are: Somali, Kurdish, Cantonese, Tigrinian and Polish, but a total of 20 languages have been requested in 2009
Location: Six Primary Care Trust (PCT) areas within the Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership - up to 200 locations
Sector: NHS
Date: 2009
Aim: To improve the Trust’s communication with the community, regardless of the language involved.
To provide the Trust with the language resources required to communicate with non-English speaking clients so that they have the same access to mental health services as English speakers.
Service Outline An ongoing service now at its first anniversary (since April 2008), providing interpreting (85%) and translation (15%) services across 200-plus locations in five strategic business units and six Primary Care Trust (PCT) areas.
Prestige says The nature of language requirements from the Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust can be huge and varied - the Trust is a widespread organisation geographically and the range of languages it needs is substantial.
Sometimes mental illness can affect an individual’s ability to communicate in English, which they may well have been able to previously. Our assignment may be the first time someone has come into contact with a language company.
We spend a lot of time and effort selecting a linguist for a mental health assignment - it is as much about their life experience as their skill as a linguist. They need to understand the situation the individual with mental illness finds himself or herself in, as well as what they are actually saying. Impartial delivery is essential.
Prestige Network was pleased to become the preferred provider for the Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust when it adopted a concept of Trust-wide provision of language services. We have now worked with most business units within the Trust and requests for our services have shown a steady increase. A year down the line, we are very happy with the way the relationship with the Trust is progressing.
The customer says There are a number of benefits to the Trust using a preferred provider for language services - people know who to contact and the consistency and ease of a procedure to follow is important.
Prestige Network puts a lot of thought into the choice of interpreters and translators and we feel reassured about the level of training and skills of their linguists. Our confidence in Prestige Network is also influenced by other factors - interpreters on our assignments have to deal with complex issues and situations. This is not always an easy task, but is one which Prestige Network’s linguists rise to admirably.
We never know when we are going to have a crisis which requires a linguist, but we are reassured by Prestige Network’s 24-hour service. Somebody is always available, and that is particularly important in mental health.
The fact that Prestige Network can get hold of linguists in some of the more unusual languages gives us added confidence in the delivery of the company’s services.
We are very happy that our partnership with Prestige Network is growing and growing.
Contact us For further information, contact:
Prestige Network
Tel: 01635 866888
Fax: 01635 877357