Doctors lead urgent search for translators

DOCTORS have been contacting asylum seeker support groups in desperate efforts to secure untrained interpreters, it has emerged.

An asylum-seeker support group in the south said yesterday it was astonished that a non-governmental agency should be contacted for volunteer translation services.

Support groups in Cork and Dublin both said that non-nationals with psychiatric and psychological problems are most at need but that the lack of investment in health translation was “widespread” and “scandalous”.

Just last week, it emerged that translation agencies were approaching foreign waiting staff in restaurants and requesting them to provide legal interpreter services.

Irish Immigrant Support Service spokeswoman Gertrude Cotter said: “Health and legal translation services are vital for non-nationals and they should be adequate but they’re not. Without doubt, the area of greatest need is for psychotherapy and psychiatric translations. There are severe deficits in this area as quality of translation remains vital. We’re being told the telephone translation for GPs is available sometimes and not at other times. It’s not reliable,” she said

Spirasi Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture (CCST) Manager, Edward Horgan said that they spend huge amounts of money on translators and training translators particularly for psychotherapy and counselling.

“For a long time, there has been a huge need to improve HSE-funded translator services. Areas where the greatest difficulties lie include psychiatric and social welfare services. We are now hearing of cases where serious psychiatric problems are being discussed without an interpreter. That is futile and misdiagnosis will cost the HSE more money in the long term,” said Mr Horgan.

“It is essential that you don’t try to give such treatment without translation services. If we can’t get a translator for our counselling service and a client’s English is bad, we just won’t go ahead with treatment,” he said.