NHS trusts in Nottinghamshire have spent more than £2.5million on interpreting and translation services over the last three years. Between 2019 and 2022, Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), Sherwood Forest Hospitals (SFH) and Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (NHFT) forked out a combined £2,566,301, according to data obtained by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) pressure group.
NHS Nottinghamshire said it serves a diverse population of more than 1.2 million people. NHS service providers have an obligation to ensure interpreting and translation services are provided to their patients free at the point of delivery.
This can be provided face-to-face, over the phone or via other means like video conference. The TPA said, however, that this can result in "exorbitant" costs due to the large range of languages that must be catered for, including some that are spoken more rarely.
