One of the country’s largest hospitals is considering the use of technology to communicate with patients who don’t speak English after it had to hire interpreters 9,382 times last year.
St James’s Hospital in Dublin is currently exploring technological solutions to issues that arise when patients have “little or no English,” and is seeking quotations from suitably qualified IT companies, reports Breaking News.
The “vast majority” of the 9,382 interpretation assignments in 2025 required a translator to attend the hospital in person, and most of the assignments were concluded in less than an hour, according to procurement documents.
Ukrainian was the most common language for which interpreters were required, accounting for 1,852 or nearly 20% of the assignments last year, reports Breaking News.
This was followed by Russian, which was required 1,564 times, representing 16.7%.
Interpretation services were needed for patients who spoke Romanian 1,456 times, and 1,033 times for patients who spoke Portuguese, with translators required for Polish patients on 690 occasions, reports Breaking News.
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Earlier this year, a research paper found that Tallaght University Hospital had engaged the services of interpreters for patients who did not speak English almost 11,000 times over a period of 17 months.
They were required to provide translation services in 64 different languages, the most common of which was Ukrainian, accounting for almost 29% of bookings, followed by Russian, Polish and Romanian, reports Breaking News.
Procurement documents published by St James’s Hospital specify that user-friendliness, quality of translation in a medical context and GDPR compliance would be essential requirements under the new arrangements.
The hospital said frontline staff require immediate access to a technological solution when they have an urgent need to make themselves understood to patients with inadequate English, reports Breaking News.
The IT solution would also be used during short appointments when patients are required to answer quick questions about their medical histories.
St James’s is the largest acute general hospital in Ireland and is located on a 60-acre site south of the Liffey, reports Breaking News.
It has around 1,030 inpatient beds with 5,652 staff, of which almost 700 are acute beds, 245 are psychiatric and 87 are long-stay beds.
In 2024, around 60,000 people were seen in the hospital’s emergency department and 362,115 attended for outpatient appointments, with around 90,000 day-case admissions and 24,450 inpatient discharges recorded, reports Breaking News.
Prospective service providers have until 22 July to submit quotations for the IT interpretation solution, and a contract will subsequently be awarded taking account of cost and functionality, reports Breaking News.
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