Experts say it's 'more important than ever' to boost the uptake of interpreters, with concerns about support offered for patients from diverse backgrounds:
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says it's"more important than ever" to boost the uptake of interpreters, with concerns about support offered for patients from diverse backgrounds.
It said boosting the uptake of interpreters is "more important than ever", as the latest Census revealed"Unfortunately, we know that interpreters are underutilised in general practice care due to a number of disincentives and barriers, sometimes resulting in this cohort avoiding healthcare," RACGP president Professor Karen Price said on Monday.
As the country's multicultural community has risen, so has the demand for services such as healthcare. Dr Astrid Perry from Settlement Services International, a community organisation that supports newly arrived people from multicultural backgrounds, said people can be misdiagnosed or misunderstood. "Those doctors can not only interpret the language but they can also help interpret the system for patients from a different culture, and help those patients navigate what can be quite a foreign and different system than what they're used to," he said.But Dr Perry said these GPs tend to be concentrated in cities, or a few language groups.
"For those who don't have Medicare, like students for example, they're supposed to have their own insurance that caters for their health care. But we do know that they don't always have it as they're on a very stretched budget already."For those who are fully covered by Medicare, there are concerns about what support the scheme offers patients from diverse backgrounds.
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