We have responsibility to our patients and the public to ensure the services we provide are equally and easily accessible to all sections of the communities we serve.

Patients must be able to access our services in a way that ensures their language and communication needs do not prevent them from receiving the same quality of healthcare as others. We recognise that patients, service users, carers, and family and friends may have difficulty with complex medical language and the written word when discussing medical conditions and giving informed consent for procedures.

We are committed to ensuring effective communication and full participation with patients, service users, carers, family and friends. 

We have two contracted suppliers to provide trained spoken language interpreters and registered interpreters for British Sign Language/non-verbal. 

Interpreters will be booked for you ahead of your appointment by your GP or referrer.

For language, Interpreting is mostly done via telephone or face to face and for British Sign Language /non-verbal it is mainly face to face with some video interpreting on occasions. 

If you have any questions about the provision of interpreting at your appointment please contact the number on your appointment letter.

If you find phone conversations difficult, for whatever reason, using an app like Relay UK could help you to contact us, particularly if you are .