How £11,000 a day is lost in translation for foreign NHS patients

Latest figures reveal the cost of paying interpreters to help foreign patients has almost doubled in the past four years.

One Glasgow-based interpreter said yesterday it is “commonplace” to be called out and paid, even though no translation work takes place.

The figure, revealed through the Freedom of Information Act, covers all 14 NHS bodies in Scotland and is 96 per cent more than the £2m spent on the same services in 2006.

The cost of paying translation agencies, who provide interpreters in GP appointments, opticians appointments and in hospitals, has risen steadily and is now at an all-time high.

The translator, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s horrendous how much time I spend waiting around watching television because my client has not turned up, or doesn’t need me.

“I travel between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and even the Highlands, spending hours on trains, just to come back again. It is commonplace for groups of us to be paid to just sit around.

“I appreciate the work because I have to live, but I do see a lot of waste in the system and I can see why people would be shocked by the way their money is spent.

“I think translation is vital, but there is a lot of mismanagement.”

The 14 NHS bodies ran up a bill of £3,914,939.7 in 2009-10, the latest figures available nationally. This compares to £1,995,947.30 spent in 2006-7.

The biggest spender of Scotland’s NHS bodies was Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which spent £1,994,334 that year, compared with £1,250,844 in 2006-7, an increase of 59 per cent.

But despite its spending, Glasgow has seen the smallest rise of the country’s NHS.

Other less populated areas have increased their translation budget proportionally.

The biggest increase has been made by NHS Borders, which spent £4,037.72 in 2006-7 and £75,429.98 in 2009-10, an increase of 1,768 per cent. NHS Western Isles spent £56.40 in 2006-7, but £1,019.55 in 2009-10, an increase of 1,708 per cent.

The only NHS body to decrease its spending on interpreters and translators is NHS Shetland which reduced its spending from £493.50 in 2006 to £350.50.

A spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “The spiralling costs of translation services are a huge drain on resources that the NHS cannot afford.

“There will always be a limited need for translation services when foreign nationals need emergency treatment, but the taxpayer has a right to expect someone living in Britain to learn to speak English.

“It’s shocking that the taxpayer is footing the bill for an interpreter to travel across Scotland only to sit and watch TV.

“Reducing the cost of interpreters is a practical way for the NHS to make savings without cutting frontline services. The public want the health budget spent on treatment and health care, not translators and their taxi bills.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Public authorities in Scotland have a duty to ensure equal access to their services. This includes providing translation and interpretation services where necessary.

“Spending by NHS boards on these kinds of services at local level will be according to local needs and priorities.”