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Abstract
Aim To investigate healthcare professionals' perceptions of caring for people from ethnic minorities with poor or no English language skills when accessing health care.
Method Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 34 healthcare professionals to identify their perception of barriers encountered by those with poor or no English language skills. Findings Five main themes were identified in relation to barriers in accessing health care: language; low literacy; lack of understanding; attitudes, gender attitudes and health beliefs; and retention of information.
Conclusion It is essential that all individuals are able to interact effectively with healthcare services. New and innovative approaches are necessary to meet the needs of people from ethnic minorities accessing health care.
Keywords
Communication, culture, ethnic minorities, healthcare delivery, research
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Effective communication is essential to ensure patient safety and compliance, accurate diagnosis and health promotion (Johnson 2004). In the UK, the NHS uses interpreter or translation services to aid communication with people from ethnic minorities who have poor or no English language skills. However, the high cost to the NHS of using these services has prompted growing public concern across England (Martin 2008, Holden 2009, Connell 2011) and Scotland (Bendoris 2008, Wilson 2011). These costs were conservatively estimated at between £23 million and £55 million annually during the period 2006-11, and included translation for 120 languages (Easton 2006, Khan 2011, Chapman 2012). Khan (2011) ascribed the high cost to services being purchased ad hoc by healthcare organisations and suggested the figures were in reality much higher, possibly tenfold. Khan (2011) also maintained that these services are failing people from ethnic minorities and more needs to be done to meet their needs, because providing support for patients with a lack of English is no different than providing support for patients with special needs.
Background
The ethnic make-up of the UK population is affected significantly by international migration and becoming increasingly diverse (Rees et al 2011). This will have significant implications for the planning of future community services, economic goals, social cohesion and the nature...