If a person with very little English is hospitalised in England for example, an interpreter should be made available to explain the doctor's diagnosis of the medical problem and the procedures that will be carried out. It is unfair to expect family members or friends to interpret in this type of situation. It is also unfair on the patient who should be entitled to the professional services of an impartial interpreter. The patient may not want his family or friend to know about his or her medical problems.

When a proper medical interpreting service is provided doctors can make their diagnoses faster. If medical professionals are unclear about exact symptoms they will refer their patients on to consultants or they will carry out procedures that could be unnecessary. In less serious cases, patients may return several times to a doctor unnecessarily. Language is the obvious problem but cultural differences can also be important. People from different cultures have different attitudes on a huge range of issues from illness and dying to blood transfusions to organ transplants. They may also have different attitudes towards the medical profession. Many of these issues are included on the Transcultural and Multicultural Health Links Web site, which is divided up into General Resources, Religious Groups, Ethnic Groups and Special Populations.

Other problems can arise if people cannot read the instructions on when to take their medicine and how much to take. Anne Fadiman has written a fascinating book on the true story of a Hmong child living in California and suffering from epilepsy. Called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, it gives an account of the language gap and especially the clash between two completely different cultures.

Medical Interpreting as a speciality has been developed in Canada and the United States in particular in the sense that a number of hospitals provide training to interpreters and in some cases employ staff interpreters. Interpreting in Mental Health settings is seen as a further speciality within medical interpreting.

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