LCQ22: Provision of interpretation services for ethnic minority patients by Hospital Authority
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Question:
In recent months, some ethnic minorities (EMs) have relayed to me that owing to the shortage of interpretation services provided by public hospitals and clinics under the Hospital Authority (HA), those EMs who understand neither Chinese nor English have encountered a lot of difficulties in the use of public medical services. Some EMs have indicated that healthcare staff, upon confirming their need for using interpretation services, merely request them to arrange relatives and friends to accompany them to assist in interpretation, instead of arranging such services for them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows if HA has plans to request public hospitals and clinics to mark down patients' preferred languages when recording their personal particulars, so as to facilitate the arrangement for interpretation services to be made, on a need basis, in future by healthcare staff before patients attending consultation; if HA does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether it knows if HA has plans to streamline the procedure for booking interpretation services in advance in public hospitals and clinics, and to enhance the understanding of the procedure for arranging interpretation services among frontline staff, so as to facilitate their arranging interpretation services for patients in need in a timely manner; if HA does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) given that the current general outpatient clinics telephone appointment service offers three language options only, namely Cantonese, English and Putonghua, whether it knows if HA will introduce options of languages which are used by a relatively larger number of EMs, so as to facilitate their use of the service; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) given that some EMs have indicated that while being hospitalised in public hospitals, they were unable to comprehend the information on the treatment procedures and their conditions due to language barrier, whether it knows if HA will improve the contents of the response cue cards which are currently used for communication with EMs, and make more use of such cue cards during the hospitalisation of that type of persons; whether HA will make a set of comprehensive graphic guidelines on the use of medicines, so as to assist EMs in taking medicines correctly; if HA will, of the details of such work and the timetable for implementation; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of Hon Alice Mak's question is as follows:
(1) To facilitate effective communication with patients, the Hospital Authority (HA) is exploring a new initiative to record patients' preferred languages in their electronic profiles. It will help streamline the procedures of arranging interpretation services for patients in future. The HA will further explore the feasibility and details of the initiative with the relevant stakeholders, such as nurses, registration staff and information technology teams.
(2) The HA has formulated guidelines for its staff on the procedures of arranging interpretation services so as to facilitate the staff concerned to contact the contractor through a 24-hour hotline for arranging on-site or telephone interpretation services according to the needs of individual case or upon requests of patients.
To promote racial harmony and to provide caring services in medical settings, the HA has devoted efforts to encouraging its staff to enhance their knowledge of ethnic minority (EM) cultures and religions as well as to properly arrange interpretation services so as to enhance communication with EM patients. The HA has introduced e-learning courses, namely "Better Communication with Ethnic Minorities - Understanding Different Cultures & Beliefs" and "Interpretation Service Arrangements for Ethnic Minorities Patients". The contents of the former include points to note for healthcare staff looking after EM patients, such as the religious and cultural differences in respect of gender, catering, clothing, preparation for new born babies and handling of dead bodies. The contents of the latter include the code and procedures for the provision of interpretation services laid down by the HA, tips for selecting interpreters, ways to communicate with EM patients etc. The HA provides its staff with training information through various communication platforms, including its e-Learning Centre, internal publications and EM working groups of hospitals. Training courses or talks are also organised to enhance the staff's skills in communicating with EMs and providing caring services.
(3) Service of the HA's general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) is primarily used by the elders, low-income individuals, and patients with chronic diseases. The HA has launched the GOPC telephone appointment system with a view to facilitate patients with episodic diseases to make appointments via telephone. Currently, the GOPC telephone appointment system offers three language options, namely Cantonese, English and Putonghua. Help desks are also set up in the GOPCs to offer help to those who encounter difficulties in using the telephone appointment service.
Since the launch of the system, the HA has been listening to the views of the public on the service, and has conducted reviews and introduced improvement measures on an on-going basis. The HA values the views of its service users. The GOPCs will continue to explore and plan for appropriate enhancement measures along with the HA's corporate directions so as to ensure that the primary care services could be properly provided for users.
(4) HA provides a uniform set of response cue cards, disease information sheets and patient consent forms in 18 EM languages to enhance communication between hospital staff and EM patients so as to facilitate the registration and provision of services. These documents contain information on common diseases (e.g. headache, chest pain and fever), treatment procedures (e.g. blood transfusion and radiation safety issues) and details of HA's services (e.g. fees and charges and the triage system of the Accident and Emergency Department).
Besides, multilingual posters are produced and posted in public hospitals while TV panels are also used for promoting and helping EMs understand how to request interpretation services. The HA will continue to encourage EM in-patients and healthcare staff to make use of on-site interpretation services, telephone interpretation services or response cue cards in EM languages for better communication.
Currently, the HA would print patient's name, drug administration instructions and warning messages in Chinese or English, as well as the English drug name, on the drug label pasted on the dispensing bags or containers. In general, when attending medical consultation in public hospitals or clinics, EM patients may request for interpretation services to facilitate communication. To ensure medication safety, pharmacy staff would also provide EM patients with drug administration advice and warning messages through the interpreters.
The HA will continue to explore and implement more feasible measures to facilitate the use of public healthcare services by EMs, having regard to the service and operational needs.
Ends/Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Issued at HKT 12:00
Issued at HKT 12:00
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