In line with NHS Scotland's national policy, NHS Boards and their partners (including contractors) are required to ensure that all interpreting services are accessed through officially recognised and contracted providers, specifically, the Interpreting, Communication Support and Translation National Policy (Public Health Scotland, February 2022).

Following advice from the Health Board and seeking legal advice, as a practice within NHS Grampian, we must fully align with this guidance. This means that we have to use interpreter providers that have a Service Level Agreement with NHS Grampian.  It is the responsibility of NHS Boards to provide a qualified and trained interpreter and not the service user (patient).  The cost of interpretation is also not passed to the patient, family members, carers or other individuals accesing healthcare.

A patient who wishes to use a friend, family member or carer or anyone as an interpreter, NHS Grampian's position remains that it is important to use a professionally trained interpreter because of the duty to ensure that interpreting is accurate, clear and consistent.  If the patient will continue to insist on using independent services or declines the use of NHS Grampian interpreter services, it must be documented in the patient's healthcare record and signed by the patient to say that this was their personal request.  Our staff will explain to our patients why we need to use professional interpreters.  We would also expect that anyone who supports our patients in communication holds a professional qualification, registered with appropriate governing body, Disclosure/PVG checked, has public liability insurance and have an agreed code of conduct.  Interpretation services in the healthcare setting is free to patients.