Amidst the consistent financial crunches, the NHS has been alleged of being spendthrift. It has been reported that the NHS has been spending as much as £60,000, a day, over translation and interpretation services.

According to the researchers of the 2020Health, last year, the NHS had spent about £23.3 million over written translation and interpreter services. This amount can be saved by introducing pre- translated materials to the hospitals and GPs.

The Chief Executive of the 2020Health, Julia Manning said, “The costs involved are truly staggering in an age of austerity, and incredible when taken in the context of the ‘Nicholson Challenge’ of saving £20 billion across the Health Service….Urgent action must be taken by trusts to stem the flow of translation costs”.

Recommendations have been made by the researchers of the 2020Health, by which, NHS can minimize its expenditure over the translation and interpretation services. It has been recommended that a centralized library should be established, in which the data or information should be provided in simple English language rather than in any other language.

It has also been suggested that the usage of tools like Google translator should also be introduced so that NHS’s precious money could be saved. It has been hinted by the researchers that the cost of interpreters and translators have fallen significantly. But the usage of the services has increased by manifold.

Emma Boon from the TaxPayers’ Alliance said that it would be shocking for the taxpayers to know that such a large chunk of money is being utilized over services like translation and interpreter. The most staggering revelation is that some of the trusts are not even aware as to how much they are actually spending over the services.