QEII Hospital’s emergency department has become one of the first services in Metro South Health to offer live on-demand video language interpreting.
The rollout follows a successful pilot at Community and Oral Health Services early last month as part of Metro South Health’s commitment to providing faster and easier access to interpreter services.
Language Services Pilot Project Manager Angela Chang said ED staff have welcomed the new technology.
“It takes on average 30 – 60 seconds for consumers and staff to be connected with an interpreter for the top 11 most frequently requested languages in the Metro South Health region,” Angela said.
“The on-demand video interpreting service has exciting potential as a flexible, cost-effective way to improve access to valuable 24/7 language support to improve care experiences for consumers and staff.”
Metro South Health serves a highly diverse population with over 200 languages spoken across the catchment, including frequent requests for Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean and Arabic languages at QEII.
“The selected pilot sites will support our understanding of how this modality can work across different Metro South Health services and clinical areas, and guide how it can be rolled out more broadly in future across Metro South Health,” Angela said.
Additional pilot sites identified in the rollout over the coming months include QEII Hospital’s Ward 5A, general surgery specialist outpatient services, and Princess Alexandra Hospital’s emergency department.