Interpretation and Translation Service

NHS England commission this service for primary care contractors and are invoiced directly.

Please see below information for practices that require use of an interpreter.

In the case of language translation we encourage practices to make more use of telephone interpreters, it’s instant, it’s easy to use, particularly for short conversations, messages and it’s much more cost effective for the AT. However where there is a requirement for a face to face interpreter, for example , it may be that the personal touch is needed, it may be a particularly long or difficult conversation, maybe the patient has issues with hearing, the phone isn’t the best medium. Ultimately the clinician would make the decision as to what is the most appropriate medium for a consultation.

Telephone Interpreters

There is a contract in place. These are the access details:

Languageline Solutions provide a telephone interpreting service. The booking line number is 0845 310 9900, callers will be asked for their Client ID and code

 Pharmacies need to quote their name and give the access code 288221

Codes are as below:

ID Code: 288221 (Merseyside)

Staff must quote the access code number and name otherwise they will not be recognised as an authorised user.  Staff will also be asked to quote their first and last name + their practice name.  Please can staff proactively spell their name and practice name if required.

British Sign Language interpreters

The primary provider for BSL interpreters is Action on Hearing Loss and the booking line number is 0845 685 8000. The caller will need to provide the date and time of the appointment and the gender of the patient.

The Deafness Resource Centre provide BSL interpreters to the Halton & St Helens area. Contact number: 01744 23887

Deafblind interpreters

The provider for deafblind interpreters is also Action On Hearing Loss and the booking details are as above.