Released 5 July 2024
Request:
1) BSL/SSE
a) How many requests have been made to the Trust for BSL/SSE to English interpreters?
b) How many of these requests were confirmed/fulfilled?
c) How many were fulfilled by staff and how many by agency staff?
d) What were the main reasons for an interpreter being unavailable to attend any unfulfilled requests?
2) Deaf Blind
a) How many requests have been made to the Trust for deaf blind interpreters?
b) How many of these requests were confirmed/fulfilled?
c) How many were fulfilled by staff and how many by agency staff?
d) What were the main reasons for an interpreter being unavailable to attend any unfulfilled requests?
3) Does the Trust employ any BSL/SSE/deaf blind interpreters within the Trust, on a full time staff basis?
4) Does the Trust have a contract with a video relay service?
Please provide a breakdown of the above for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and Jan – May 2024.
Information disclosed:
Please note that the Trust’s interpretation services are managed by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team. This team was established in January 2023 and only started to record interpretation data from July 2023. We have therefore provided the data we hold for the period July 2023 – March 2024 and regret any inconvenience these circumstances may cause.
1a. There were 484 bookings for British Sign Language (BSL) between July 2023 and March 2024.
1b. Of the 484 bookings, 443 were confirmed/fulfilled.
1c. All bookings are fulfilled by agencies; the Trust does not employ any interpreting/translation staff directly.
1d. This historical information was not provided to the Trust by our previous suppliers. This data is therefore not held by the Trust and not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
2a-d. Please note that requests for interpreters are made directly to the providing company by the clinical department that the patient is seeing. At the time of referral, the department will inform the company of any specific needs of the patient such as them requiring deafblind interpretation. Our EDI service are not advised about any specific patient needs or the type of interpreter that has been requested at the time of the booking; if retained any information relevant to the booking remains with the clinical department.
Since the companies that provide deafblind interpreters also provide sign language interpretation services, we are unable to identify centrally on invoices those jobs that have specifically been assigned to a deafblind interpreter.
The information required to answer this part of your request is therefore not held by the Trust and not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
3. No, please see response to question 1c above.
4. Yes, the Trust currently has a contract with SignLive.