Staggering cost of translators in Wales’ NHS REVEALED – enough to fund 48,000 GP appointments
Debt-ridden Welsh NHS health boards spent nearly £3million on translation services in 2023 alone, FoI data shared exclusively with GB News has revealed.
That’s enough to fund 48,000 GP appointments, 10,000 ambulance call outs or hire 90 new junior doctors, all which are badly needed in Wales’ cash-strapped NHS which has been run by Labour since 1999.
The most commonly requested translation services were for Arabic with 5,119 requests across Wales.
More than half of those requests were made in Cardiff and the Vale’s health board (2,639). The Welsh capital’s health board was also the board that spent the most on translation and interpretation in 2023 (just under £1million).
NHS spending on translation services by health board in Wales
NHS spending on translation services by health board
GBN
This was despite the fact Cardiff and the Vale Health Board is in a dire financial situation, running a three-year deficit of -£42million.
This means from 2020 to 2023, the board spent £42million more than it received, despite record levels of funding.
The Betsi Cadwaladr health board in North Wales, which has run up a -£24 million debt over the last three years, spent nearly £600,000 on translation and interpretation, the second most in Wales.
The board’s most requested language was Polish (1,178 requests), which was also the second most requested spoken language across Wales.
Rounding out the top five language requests across Wales were Kurdish Sorani (1,669 requests), Bengali (1,208 requests) and Farsi (561 requests).
Requests for translation services by language
Requests for translation services by language
GBN
The findings have drawn criticism from the Welsh Conservatives who argue people must make more of an effort to learn English or face paying their own translation bills.
Commenting on the Welsh Conservative research, James Evans, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said: “A failure of far too many in Wales to assimilate is precipitating in a huge cost to the Welsh NHS and to taxpayers.
“The substantial sums being spent on translation are depriving the Welsh NHS of funding that could otherwise be used to pay for frontline staff and hospital equipment to reduce the longest waiting lists in the UK, here in Labour-run Wales.
“We’re not saying that Ukrainian refugees should be refused interpreters, but for those patients with settled status, proper integration for those who don’t learn the language is impossible, so either these patients must learn to speak and read it or they should foot their own translation bills.”
Requests for Ukrainian and British Sign Language translators made up part of the sums being spent, which the Welsh Conservatives do not oppose.
Welsh resident Helen Fawcett said: “I am furious about this.
“This situation is yet another result of far too much immigration. The expense is colossal, and I know most taxpayers will have no idea where their hard-earned money is being wasted.
“It seems to me the huge number of immigrants is putting too much strain on the NHS. Perhaps there could be some sort of volunteering effort from ethnic minorities to help with these translation costs.”
It comes as debates over the NHS and the effect of mass immigration on the health service rage across Britain.
In Wales’ NHS, politicians are grappling with several crises including spiralling waiting lists and widespread corridor care.
Helen Whyley, of the Royal College of Nursing Wales, said there was a ‘crisis happening in our hospitals across Wales’ and warned patients will die because of the ‘falling standard of care’.
One Welsh nurse even said patients were being ‘stripped of their dignity every day’ and a Welsh resident told GB News they ‘fear falling every day.’
Map of Wales’ Health BoardsWales NHSComparisons with England do not help Wales. The average wait in Wales for hospital treatment after referral is 21.8 weeks compared to 14.9 in England, for example.
In Wales, 21 per cent of people on waiting lists wait over a year for treatment, compared to 4 per cent in England.
Despite record levels of funding, the health service failed miserably in its targets to break even, as highlighted in the latest national audit of the Welsh NHS finances.
Auditor General Adrian Crompton expressed ‘concern’ after all seven Health Boards failed to meet the statutory duty to break even over three years.
“Despite record levels of investment and higher than ever levels of savings, the statutory framework put in place by the Welsh Government to drive financial sustainability in the NHS is not working”, said Crompton.
“Whilst there remains an urgent need for NHS bodies to continue to drive out cost inefficiencies in the way they work, this alone is unlikely to return the NHS to financial balance.
“More fundamental challenges now need to be grasped around the shape and infrastructure of the NHS, the level of funding it needs, its workforce challenges and how the demand for its services can be better managed.
“These are issues that should exercise the minds of politicians, government officials and NHS bodies and their partners in equal measure.”
First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan has announced above inflation pay rises for public sector workers in Wales
PA
Alongside the cost of translation services, clinical negligence compensation is also making a dent in Welsh NHS budgets.
A whopping £775million of taxpayer money went on clinical negligence payouts in the last ten years in Wales, FoI data revealed.
That’s enough to hire roughly 25,000 new nurses or 10,000 new GPs or fund the Welsh NHS for 24 days.
Claims made to the health boards include botched operations, diagnosis delays, failures to identify infection and treatment errors.
In recent years, this has included mistakenly fitting a woman with a contraceptive coil immediately after giving birth and amputating the wrong toe during surgery.
Both catastrophic errors occurred in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board in north Wales who have paid out £128million over the last ten years.
From 2014-2024, Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board shelled out the most taxpayer dosh of any board with an eye-watering £154million paid to failed patients.
The Welsh Government said thousands of people receive high-quality treatment on the NHS every day and encouraged any mistreatment to be reported.
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Wales NHS Health Boards and how much taxpayer money they’ve paid out in clinical negligence over the last decadeGBN/ChatGPTGB News approached the seven Welsh health boards this morning. So far, two have replied.
A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said: “As a Health Board, we are committed to treating all of our patients equally and access to health care should not be restricted by language.
“We work closely with our communities to ensure information is available in a number of languages and support is provided to those where English is not their first language.
“It is important to remember that each request for translation or interpretation represents a patient in a time of need and we will always look to support our patients in a way that allows them to fully participate in their care.”
A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “The Health Board is proud to employ, care and support people of all ethnicities, faiths and backgrounds.
“We are also committed to reducing inequalities within our communities and make our healthcare accessible to everyone.
“People living in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan who don’t speak fluent or even basic English are, just like people with hearing loss, learning disabilities or cognitive impairment, as entitled to NHS care as the rest of the population.
“In healthcare, errors in communication put people’s lives at risk. We should avoid looking at these figures solely from a spending point of view, and assess the wider implications of not having such vital support mechanisms in place.
“It must also be noted that the Health Board has a legal requirement to provide all information in Welsh, which would contribute to the overall cost of translation.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “It is vital everyone can communicate their healthcare needs.
“Our communities are diverse and NHS Wales will continue doing all it can to provide high-quality healthcare for everyone.”