"polygonum" wrote in message
...
On 14/02/2016 12:00, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
charles wrote:
Why don't the NHS have interpreters on their staff?

I'd have thought you wouldn't need to look far in any major hospital to
find someone who is fluent in any of the common languages?

Who would be responsible for any mis-interpretations?

No one, just like when a relative is used.

It is ridiculous
to expect staff who happen to have experience of a non-UK language to be
able to translate at a sufficiently high level.

There is no high level involved.

There's plenty of native
English speakers who struggle with some of the language of medicine.

That's why the medical personnel use normal
language to the patients in any language.

And
you need a translator to be competent in both languages involved.

But only in the normal language, not the language of medicine.

Sure, in an emergency, anyone is likely better than no-one.

Not just in an emergency. When asking where it hurts and
whether it hurts when you take a deep breath etc, you don’t
need any language of medicine.