The UK has been a multi-cultural society for centuries, and its diversity is expected to grow in the coming two decades. Migration contributes to greater linguistic diversity, which can create communication challenges between patients and healthcare providers. Older adults, particularly those aged 75 and over with limited English proficiency, tend to report poorer health compared to those who are fluent in English. As the population continues to age, it is important to address this factor when delivering services.
The Current Landscape
Individuals with a lower English proficiency report greater barriers to accessing healthcare, have poorer patient experiences and are more likely to be in poor health according to research by Whitaker et al., in 2022. These unsatisfactory interactions with the healthcare system can lower levels of trust and undermine health literacy.
Furthermore, an individual may have good conversational fluency in English but struggle to understand health related information. Feelings of being an inconvenience or fear of acquiring translation related costs can deter them from seeking a better understanding.
Interpretation services are one of the possible ways to mitigate language barriers yet implementation within healthcare is often limited or outdated. A growing number of patients with limited English proficiency, particularly in large urban areas such as London and Birmingham already poses a need for acute language support.
Increasing Access To Our Services
ECG On-Demand has recently invested in additional resources to enhance accessibility for patients with limited English health literacy through our translation service. This initiative complements our existing collection of fitting instructions, available in the most commonly spoken foreign languages in the UK:
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Lithuanian
- Punjabi
- Polish
- Russian
- Tamil
- Turkish
- Urdu
Aside from using the first language of many ethnic minority individuals, our instructions are also highly visual to better aid understanding.
The Importance Of Addressing Language Barriers
For example, atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common indication for referral to ambulatory ECG monitoring and there is a lot of research that underlines disparities between communities in the UK. Statistics from Chung et al., 2021 highlighted that individuals from areas with the highest deprivation in socioeconomic status have a 12% greater risk of developing AF and a 26% higher risk of AF fatality than the wealthiest areas in the UK.
Black and South Asian communities have a higher prevalence of AF risk factors yet report lower rates of AF. Many theories exist to explain this paradox and differences in access is one of them.
By providing ethnic minorities with easy, accessible information we are able to set the ball rolling to reduce anxiety and poor outcomes for groups of society that are often overlooked in terms of health literacy.
References:
Health Matters: Ambitions to tackle persisting inequalities in cardiovascular disease
https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp22X718013https://bjgpopen.org/content/1/4/bjgpopen17X101241
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/language/articles/detailedanalysisenglishlanguageproficiencyinenglandandwales/2013-08-30