Aim and objectives:
The lack of knowledge of the French language by patients during medical consultations is an obstacle to quality care. Promoting understanding during exchanges between health professionals and patients thus allows:
- improving access to prevention, screening and medical care;
- the reduction of irrelevant, unnecessary and costly examinations;
- the reinforcement of the person's autonomy and the respect of his or her rights (information, confidentiality, free and informed consent)
The aim is therefore to give health professionals the opportunity to use health interpreting services.
Target group:
All non-native speakers in the North-East region are concerned, as well as all private doctors and midwives who may be consulted by them.
Method:
Private practitioners and midwives in the North-East region can request telephone (and/or face-to-face) interpreting services from a service provider chosen and financed by the Agence Régionale de Santé via a call for tenders. To do so, they must first register for the scheme, which offers 185 languages. Professionals are provided with a user guide, which invites them to prepare consultations in advance and in writing, in order to optimise the interpreter's contribution. This interpreting service is free of charge for both the professional and the patient. Interpreters are bound by professional secrecy.
Outcome:
An interpreter who speaks the patient's language is available within 5 minutes of the request by the health professional, even without a scheduled appointment.
Added value:
As mentioned above, access to professional health interpreting helps to promote quality access to care for non-native speakers and thus their integration into the health system. Telephone interpreting also helps to reduce territorial disparities in access to this service.
