We are an experienced service provider to the healthcare sector since 2001. Language Direct offers over 189 community languages including rare languages such as Oromo. Our services include:
- Face-to-Face Interpretation
- Remote options such as Phone and Video Interpretations
- British Sign Language (BSL)
- Document Translations
We guarantee the best possible service by conducting a stringent recruitment process where approximately only 1 in 17 applicants are recruited. Our interpreters speak the chosen language as their mother tongue and are qualified in their field. We test voice, clarity, level of spoken English, ease of understanding, and cultural awareness of interpreters. Other necessary requirements for medical interpreters include:
- Qualified from a university, Mary Ward Centre, DPSI, IoL
- A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the sector
- Have a degree and membership of an association such as CIOL, ITI, NRPSI, and IoL
- Understand the cultures and subcultures, sensitive issues, and accents of patients
- Aware of procedures, processes, and jargon in the medical field
Language Direct has been operating for the last 20 years and have built ourselves an impressive clientele from BMI Healthcare, Priory Healthcare, and the NHS, among many more. We strive to provide the best interpreters to ensure a successful meeting and the satisfaction of our clients, interpreters and service users every time.
We only provide professional, qualified linguists who speak the language natively. Our employees agree to a confidentiality clause for each client we receive, this guarantees the safety of your information.
Enhanced Customer Experience
We focus on enhancing customer experience in a number of ways which makes us stand out against our competitors. We provide a three-way link between the Interpreter, service user, and worker who requested us.
The service user such i.e. non-English speaking patient visiting the GP for an appointment is accessing a healthcare service for themselves. Language Direct input a link, an extra service of language assistance to the patient.
We find the best interpreter suited to your needs. Typically, our medical interpreters are qualified experts with hundreds of hours of interpreting experience. Our interpreters include pharmacists and retired doctors. To ensure that our interpreters are meeting our standards, we do the following:
- Ongoing checks and supervision of interpreters
- QC inspection attend random sessions at hospitals
Book the same interpreter for any ongoing case for ease and rapport to make future bookings easy. Healthcare professionals can check availability after each session.
Case Study: Wiltshire NHS Trust
The Challenge
When Covid-19 spread to the UK early last year in 2020, there were many changes to the systems. As a language service provider, we have worked with this hospital over the years and were called upon to help transform the current services so they would not crumble under overpressure.
This included appointments, outpatient and inpatient consultations. Our interpreters usually assist departments such as mental health, orthopaedic, cardiac, eye treatment, oncology, antenatal, paediatrics, ENT, fracture clinic, maternity, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, urology, A&E, and lately corona care units.
Face-to-Face interpreting
This was the most popular choice of interpreting before the pandemic hit as remote services such as telephone and video interpreting became more commonly used. F2F interpreting is the best choice when dealing with sensitive or complex matters which need a more personal approach as it provides a greater context of the situation, especially through non-verbal communication. If patients had to come in for their appointments that could not be conducted online, an interpreter would be present.
We have thousands of professional linguists on our system. During this period, we searched for interpreters who were healthy, open to travel for bookings and had access to PPE (personal protective equipment).
Telephone Interpreting
We have witnessed how the NHS and other medical practices have changed due to the pandemic; we have adapted our services to offer smoother and effective alternatives such as telephone and video interpreting.
Many face-to-face bookings were moved to telephone bookings as an effective alternative, especially as a more cost effective option for our clients. This also allowed increased geographical accessibility to find interpreters.
Telephone interpretations can be chosen to your convenience, a meeting usually lasts roughly between 30-45 minutes on average but can be as short as 10 mins or as long as 2 hours depending on the patient and health professional consultation. Our telephone interpreting services are available all day, at any time. It is also perfect for last minute meetings if you are in urgent need of language assistance.
Video Interpreting
If a screen was needed for a booking, we suggested video interpreting as a remote choice due to easy accessibility on a laptop, computer, tablet, or phone. An interpreter and a Wi-Fi connection are all that is needed.
This is an upgrade from telephone interpretation sessions as non-verbal communication is clear through body language and facial expressions. This also allows BSL interpreters to be able to communicate clearly in a remote manner.
BSL (British Sign Language)
One of our popular services is BSL interpreting has won us numerous happy customers.
BSL (British Sign Language) is officially the second most used language after English. All BSL bookings we received have been face-to-face or video interpreting. We have hundreds of sign language interpreters who are well-received by our clients to feel secure.
We employ professional, experienced, and qualified BSL interpreters on a national scale.
Choose us
Whether you require face-to-face interpreting, telephone interpreting or video interpreting, Language Direct Ltd has the knowledge and the resources to provide a quality and effective service. If you are looking for an experienced interpretation services provider within healthcare, we can help!