Hospitals' interpreter costs soar

Interpreters are being called in thousands of times a month at Auckland hospitals to meet the diverse needs of the region's changing population.

Many ethnic populations in the Auckland region have doubled or tripled - or in the case of the Korean population in Waitemata, exploded by more than 3000 per cent - between 1991 and 2001.

The Auckland District Health Board receives about 2500 interpretation requests a month and predicts it will spend $1.9 million in the 2005-06 year providing interpreters who between them speak 113 languages.

The top five languages called for are Mandarin, Cantonese, Tongan, Samoan and Korean.

Other languages including the most widely spoken Persian language Farsi, Vietnamese and Amharic (an Ethiopian language) also feature in the top 10.

Across town, the Waitemata District Health Board receives about 600 interpreting requests a month and expects interpreting costs to reach $600,000 in 2005-06 - almost double that of four years ago.

The top three most needed languages are Mandarin, Korean and Cantonese.

Sue Lim, manager of Asian Health Support Services, said the board had more than 190 interpreters on its books and the increase in the number of requests was because of the growing number of immigrants arriving in the country with limited or no English.

Census figures show the number of people who identified as Korean in the Waitemata board's area grew from 228 in 1991 to 7818 in 2001 - more than a 3000 per cent increase.

The number of Chinese people in the area more than tripled during the same time, from 5601 to 17,772.

The level of growth in the Korean and Chinese populations was similar in the Auckland and Counties Manukau district health board areas.

Other ethnic groups such as African, Middle Eastern and Indian populations also grew substantially.

Laura Park, who provides Korean interpreting services for Waitemata and Auckland district health boards, said as well as explaining any medical issue, she often had to explain the way the health system worked.

"We also provide cultural information to doctors and nurses. Back in Korea we choose the clinic, we choose the doctor.

"You make a booking and can see the doctor right away. Here it is different."

An Auckland City Hospital spokeswoman said interpreter services were used when a patient had limited English or there was a concern that they did not understand clinical information given by medical staff.

Speaking in tongues

* Fast-growing ethnic populations in Auckland have created growing demands for interpreters for patients using the region's health services.

* Mandarin, Korean, Cantonese, Tongan and Samoan are the languages most often interpreted.

* New Zealand residents do not pay but non-residents get charged up to $102 an hour.