The cost to east Kent hospitals of providing translators to non-English speakers is rising.

In the 2008/9 financial year, taxpayers were asked to fork out more than £46,000 on interpreters at the William Harvey in Ashford, the Kent and Canterbury, and the QEQM in Thanet.

That marks an increase from £37,600 in 2007/8 and £29,400 two years earlier.

The figures were released following a Freedom of Information Act request to the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust.

European languages which the trust has hired translators for include Czech, Polish, French, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish.

From Asia there is Cantonese, Bengali, Arabic, Mandarin, Punjabi, Tamil, Thai and Japanese.

Sign language for deaf patients has also been utilised.

Loraine Keeler, an information officer for the trust, explained how interpreting services are used.

She said: “Our translators are used for face to face interpreting at a patient appointment or translation of appointment, letters and patient medical notes and reports.

“It is not very often that a request is made for a publication to be translated.
“If a certain publication is available in foreign languages and is already being produced this publication would be obtained rather than the trust translating it.”