What is this service?

Our Health Links service aims to improve access to healthcare for adults and children whose first language is not English. We provide an interpreting, language support and advocacy service in Bristol and the surrounding area. Our service aims to help overcome cultural and language barriers in healthcare and improve health and communication within migrant communities including black and ethnic minority communities. We are an expert resource on issues relating to black and minority ethnic communities across Bristol.

What does this service offer?

Our Link Workers act as the language link between healthcare professionals and patients. They can accompany healthcare professionals when they visit patients at home and are also able to be present in some Bristol GP practices to interpret between patients and GPs or other healthcare professionals. The team can also facilitate translation.

Telephone Interpreting Service
Health Links also manages telephone interpreting and can assist with accessing this service.

We are committed to helping to reduce inequalities in access, quality of care and health related outcomes. We do this by:

• helping to overcome cultural and language barriers within the healthcare setting.
• promoting cultural awareness.
• identifying sensitive issues within the healthcare environment and how different communities perceive these issues.
• promoting patient awareness of health issues.
• educating communities on how best to meet their individual healthcare needs.
• signposting people to relevant services.
• helping to inform health care professionals on how best to target particular hard to reach communities.

Who is this service for?

Our service is for people in Bristol that have English as second language and have difficulty in accessing health services due to language and cultural barriers. Services that work within Bristol Community Health, as well as other healthcare professionals, are encouraged to contact us regarding any interpreting needs they may have.

Our in-house Link Workers speak the following languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Somali and Bengali.

We also have access to Bank Link Workers who can speak and interact with patients in the following languages: Arabic, Bengali (Dhaka and Sylheti), Czech, Farsi (Persian), French, Kurdish, Mandarin, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian and Urdu.

How can I access this service?

To access our Health Links service, please refer to the contact details on the left hand side of this page.

Patients can contact the service directly with queries and to request link workers. There is usually someone in the office to take telephone calls from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. If there is no one available to take your call you can leave a message on our answer phone or alternatively you can call our team mobile phone number, or e-mail us, and someone will contact you as soon as possible.

Where this service is located