References

Reference from:

Marieke van Esch Staff member Patient information

"As spokesperson I do not work with interpreters myself, but we do book them for our colleagues. The reactions are in general positive. But it strikes me that often the same care providers choose to work with interpreters. Many care providers do not know that they may and are authorized to call in an interpreter and if they do, they are somewhat hesitant to make use of them. They think it takes far too much time and that it is complicated. That is a pity, because an official interpreter can take away a lot of uncertainty. You can think for example of the explanation in case of a haemodialysis or during a talk in which bad news must be broken to someone. In these kind of cases, patients often bring along a family member, neighbour or child to interpret. But in practice this usually results in very difficult situations.

National protocol

Additionally, from a legal point of view, every patient has the right to information in a language he/she understands. This has been laid down in the Medical Treatment Contracts Act (Wet op de geneeskundige behandelingsovereenkomst , WGBO). Therefore, we work according to the field standards applicable to the use of interpreters at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and the Ministry of Justice. These are the guidelines for the deployment of interpreters.

All for it

How does it work in practice? In general very well. We need TVcN interpreters almost on a daily basis, so occasioanlly we need to improvise. The interpreter (often a freelancer) has to be available and in hospitals appointments sometimes take longer than planned, but all in all we usually manage to find a proper solution. I can not say that we work a lot with a single language; there are all kinds: Spanish, English, Arabic in all kinds of variants. Compared to other hospitals we have been working a lot with interpreters for a longer time already. I think this is because we are an academic hospital which is located in Amsterdam. Our patients have been coming from different countries for years. Other hospitals show an explosive growth of the use of interpreters, sometimes no less than 20% per year, since the introduction of the WBGO. This is a good development I think, I am all for deploying official interpreters!"

Mr. Liz Garnett, Lawyer
De Praktijck Lawyer's Office

´We are specialized in right of asylum and aliens law. We have many clients who need translated documents. For this purpose we call in the Translation department of TVcN. They are quick, efficient and professional. Especially since the use of e-mail translations are processed very speedily.'

Marlies Werbie MSc. P.T. Physiotherapist and Health Scientist

`I have been working with TVcN for years, and they always manage to arrange an interpreting service. Very convenient! However, you have to become proficient at working with an interpreter. An interpreter is not a discussion partner after all. Without training, the initial conversations will not always go efficiently. Therefore I recommend following a workshop!'

Ronald May Coordinator Intercultural Management Altrecht, Mental Health Care Utrecht.

"Every year we work with 30,000 clients, more than half of which are foreigners. Our collaboration with TVcN is essential for us: it is the condition to be able to guarantee proper mental health care. After all, understanding each other is half the treatment. Only if you understand each other really well can a relationship based on trust be initiated. Interaction is necessary for this however, and it has to come from the care provider but also from the client. It is furthermore a sign of quality if the care provider asks himself: does my client understand me at all?"

Frannie Flinterman-Rolff Manager Fenedex Service Centre

´TVcN makes communication with foreign clients easier, quicker and more efficient. The interpreting services enable exporters to do even better business all over the world.'