Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • ONLINE FIRST
  • CURRENT ISSUE
  • ALL ISSUES
  • AUTHORS & REVIEWERS
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • BJGP LIFE
  • MORE
    • About BJGP
    • Conference
    • Advertising
    • eLetters
    • Alerts
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Librarian information
    • Resilience
    • COVID-19 Clinical Solutions
  • RCGP
    • BJGP for RCGP members
    • BJGP Open
    • RCGP eLearning
    • InnovAIT Journal
    • Jobs and careers

User menu

  • Subscriptions
  • Alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
British Journal of General Practice
Intended for Healthcare Professionals
  • RCGP
    • BJGP for RCGP members
    • BJGP Open
    • RCGP eLearning
    • InnovAIT Journal
    • Jobs and careers
  • Subscriptions
  • Alerts
  • Log in
  • Follow bjgp on Twitter
  • Visit bjgp on Facebook
  • Blog
  • Listen to BJGP podcast
  • Subscribe BJGP on YouTube
Intended for Healthcare Professionals
British Journal of General Practice

Advanced Search

  • HOME
  • ONLINE FIRST
  • CURRENT ISSUE
  • ALL ISSUES
  • AUTHORS & REVIEWERS
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • BJGP LIFE
  • MORE
    • About BJGP
    • Conference
    • Advertising
    • eLetters
    • Alerts
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Librarian information
    • Resilience
    • COVID-19 Clinical Solutions
Editorials

Addressing language as a barrier to healthcare access and quality

Katriina L Whitaker, Demi Krystallidou, Emily D Williams, Georgia Black, Cecilia Vindrola-Padros, Sabine Braun and Paramjit Gill
British Journal of General Practice 2022; 72 (714): 4-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp22X718013
Katriina L Whitaker
School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford.
Roles: Reader and Lead for Cancer Care
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Demi Krystallidou
Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey, Guildford.
Roles: Research Fellow
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Emily D Williams
School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford.
Roles: Reader in Health Inequalities
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Georgia Black
Department of Applied Health Research, University College London, London.
Roles: Principal Research Fellow and The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS) Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Cecilia Vindrola-Padros
Department of Targeted Intervention, University College London, London.
Roles: Senior Research Fellow
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Sabine Braun
Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey, Guildford.
Roles: Professor of Translation Studies
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Paramjit Gill
Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry.
Roles: Professor of General Practice
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY, AND COVID-19

International migration has increased rapidly over the past 20 years, with an estimated 281 million people living outside their country of birth.1 Similarly, migration to the UK has continued to rise over this period; current annual migration is estimated to be >700 000 per year (net migration of >300 000).2 With migration comes linguistic diversity, and in health care this often translates into linguistic discordance between patients and healthcare professionals. This can result in communication difficulties that lead to lower quality of care and poor outcomes.3 COVID-19 has heightened inequalities in relation to language: communication barriers, defined as barriers in understanding or accessing key information on health care and challenges in reporting on health conditions, are known to have compounded risks for migrants in the context of COVID-19.4 Digitalisation of health care has further amplified inequalities in primary care for migrant groups.5

LANGUAGE CHALLENGES IN PRIMARY CARE

There have been substantial reductions in funding for English language course provision over the past decade, and associated challenges in meeting demand for English language learning.6 This has put increased pressure on public service providers to ensure that all patients receive the same level of access and care to avoid perpetuating inequalities. The UK’s Equality Act 2010 places a legal duty on the NHS to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to their ability to access health services. Guidance for primary care states that ‘patients should be able to access primary care services in a way …

View Full Text
Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

In this issue

British Journal of General Practice: 72 (714)
British Journal of General Practice
Vol. 72, Issue 714
January 2022
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for recommending British Journal of General Practice.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person to whom you are recommending the page knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Addressing language as a barrier to healthcare access and quality
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from British Journal of General Practice
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from British Journal of General Practice.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Addressing language as a barrier to healthcare access and quality
Katriina L Whitaker, Demi Krystallidou, Emily D Williams, Georgia Black, Cecilia Vindrola-Padros, Sabine Braun, Paramjit Gill
British Journal of General Practice 2022; 72 (714): 4-5. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp22X718013

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero

Share
Addressing language as a barrier to healthcare access and quality
Katriina L Whitaker, Demi Krystallidou, Emily D Williams, Georgia Black, Cecilia Vindrola-Padros, Sabine Braun, Paramjit Gill
British Journal of General Practice 2022; 72 (714): 4-5. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp22X718013
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley

Jump to section

  • Top
  • Article
    • INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY, AND COVID-19
    • LANGUAGE CHALLENGES IN PRIMARY CARE
    • EVIDENCE ABOUT INTERPRETING SERVICES
    • Notes
    • REFERENCES
  • Info
  • eLetters
  • PDF

More in this TOC Section

  • Practice-based pharmacists: considerations for general practices
  • Primary care: a national asset
  • Why should we prioritise smoking cessation for people with mental health conditions?
Show more Editorials

Related Articles

Cited By...

Intended for Healthcare Professionals

BJGP Life

BJGP Open

 

@BJGPjournal's Likes on Twitter

 
 

British Journal of General Practice

NAVIGATE

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • All Issues
  • Online First
  • Authors & reviewers

RCGP

  • BJGP for RCGP members
  • BJGP Open
  • RCGP eLearning
  • InnovAiT Journal
  • Jobs and careers

MY ACCOUNT

  • RCGP members' login
  • Subscriber login
  • Activate subscription
  • Terms and conditions

NEWS AND UPDATES

  • About BJGP
  • Alerts
  • RSS feeds
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

AUTHORS & REVIEWERS

  • Submit an article
  • Writing for BJGP: research
  • Writing for BJGP: other sections
  • BJGP editorial process & policies
  • BJGP ethical guidelines
  • Peer review for BJGP

CUSTOMER SERVICES

  • Advertising
  • Contact subscription agent
  • Copyright
  • Librarian information

CONTRIBUTE

  • BJGP Life
  • eLetters
  • Feedback

CONTACT US

BJGP Journal Office
RCGP
30 Euston Square
London NW1 2FB
Tel: +44 (0)20 3188 7400
Email: journal@rcgp.org.uk

British Journal of General Practice is an editorially-independent publication of the Royal College of General Practitioners
© 2023 British Journal of General Practice

Print ISSN: 0960-1643
Online ISSN: 1478-5242