999 crews are being given phrase books – to help them deal with patients who don’t speak English. The Multilingual Emergency Phrasebook contains 21 basic clinical questions in 41 languages, the most common being Slovak, Polish, Czech and Russian. They will help ambulance crews to communicate effectively with patients and carers in any language, particularly in areas of the region where there are high density ethnic minority populations.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service also uses a language translation service to handle 999 calls from people requiring emergency medical assistance but who can’t speak English. During the past three months the trust has translated 999 calls into 26 different languages, illustrating the diversity of the region and the benefit this phrasebook will have for patients.

See: The Huddersfield Daily Examiner