If you or your family have difficulties communicating in English or you use AUSLAN, you are entitled to a professional interpreter free of charge.
Interpreter services
It is inappropriate, and is against Monash Health policy to use family, friends or bilingual staff to interpret.
Our interpreters are accredited by NAATI (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters) and as professionals, they have a medico-legal duty to provide independent, unbiased, confidential, complete and accurate interpreting for both parties.
We have a team of 70 in-house interpreters covering 29 languages and dialects including: Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, Cantonese, Croatian, Dari, Farsi, Greek, Hakka Chinese, Hazaragi, Hindi, Italian, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Pashto, Serbian, Shanghainese, Sichuanese, Sinhalese, Spanish, Russian, Tamil, Teo Chew, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.
For languages not covered by our team, we use interpreters from external agencies.
Services we provide
We provide the following services at all Monash Health locations, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:
- On-site interpreters
- Video (telehealth) interpreters
- Telephone interpreters
It is particularly important to have an interpreter when:
- You or your family are informed of your rights and responsibilities
- You or your family are required to make significant decisions concerning your lives
- You or your family receive essential information to inform decision making
- You or your family are signing an informed consent document
- You or your family are unable to read or understand information provided to you
It is your responsibility to let us know if you are unable to attend an appointment, especially when an interpreter has been booked.
Accessing an Interpreter
Staff will identify the need for an interpreter and book one for you, but if this has not happened, do not hesitate to ask for this support at any point during your care.
Translations
To read information about Interpreter services at Monash Health in your preferred language, please click on the links below: