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English-speaking patients are being pushed to the back of queues in NHS hospital waiting rooms in favour of patients who need interpreters, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Imperial College Healthcare, an NHS trust with five hospitals in north-west London, gives priority to patients who employ an interpreter.
The purpose of the Trust is to avoid additional charges for interpretation services.
It is unclear whether NHS trusts across the country are adopting the approach, but it sparked a row last night, with Conservative candidate Robert Genrick claiming the approach was letting down UK NHS patients.
The former Immigration Minister told The Mail on Sunday: ‘British people are already waiting too long for treatment. The last thing they should be subjected to is the indignity of being pushed to the back of the queue.
Hammersmith Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare. NHS trusts are pushing English-speaking patients to the back of the queue and giving priority to those who need an interpreter to avoid extra charges.
Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick said the policy was letting down NHS patients
‘This is further evidence that mass migration is putting pressure on our public services and making it difficult to consolidate unprecedented numbers.
“People who do not speak English should not be given a pass to queue.”
Imperial’s policy dictates that if a clinic is running late and they have pre-booked an interpreter for a patient, the nurses will see that patient as close to the original appointment time as possible to avoid additional costs to the Trust for interpreting. Service for waiting time. The result is that English speakers know that their positions in the queue are being deliberately ignored.
Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital’s maternity service in west London operates the policy across its antenatal clinics.
Some waiting areas operate a formal numbered ticketing system, but even this is overridden by the Trust’s interpreter policy.
One patient told MOS: “It’s a clinic, so you go in expecting to wait a while, but when someone in line behind me was allowed to see the doctor before me, I asked the receptionist why and she said that people with interpreters are given priority because they can’t wait more than an hour.”
Maternity services at Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospital in west London operate this policy in their antenatal clinics (file photo)
TV doctor Sarah Jarvis said: ‘I can understand the reason for cutting NHS costs. I would rather prioritise vulnerable patients.
“It is not about prioritizing based on clinical need, as doctors believe.”
An NHS doctor, Catja Schmitgen, previously told the Mail that delays related to translation had become “a major problem”, especially in urban areas. She said it would take twice as long to consult non-English speaking people because information had to be detailed or relayed through translators and as a result there was less time for other patients.
A spokesperson for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said last night: “We are committed to the specific needs raised by any of our patients, and every patient has the right to a professional interpreter.”
