Scottish Patient Experience Survey of GP and Local NHS Services 2011/12 Volume 3: Variation in the Experiences of Primary Care Patients

14 Detailed Findings - Translation, Interpreting and Communication Support

14.1 People were asked if they needed an interpreter or other help to communicate. The number of respondents who needed an interpreter or other help to communicate is shown in Table 12.

Table 12 Respondents who needed an interpreter or other help to communicate

14.2 For the analysis we compared the patients who required an interpreter or other help to communicate, with people who did not need help. Of the 39 questions modelled, this factor had a weak effect on experiences in 7 of the questions.

14.3 We found that people who needed an interpreter or other help had less positive experiences for 7 questions which were related to communication and medicines. For two of the questions about knowing enough about medicines, people who needed an interpreter were particularly less likely to respond positively.

14.4 Good communication has been found to be an important contributory factor in the promotion of positive patient experience. It may not be surprising therefore that patients with translation, interpreting and communication support needs are less likely to report a positive experience as communication requirements may not be adequately addressed in the surgery setting.