Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Patient Issues

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that Victorians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) have full and fair access to health services.

All public hospitals have been issued with the Victorian Government's language services policy, 'Improving the Use of Translating and Interpreting Services: A Guide to Victorian Government Policy and Procedure'. The guide stipulates the minimum government guidelines for the provision of interpreting and translating services. The guide can be found on the Victorian Multicultural Commission web site.

Currently, all public hospitals are required to report on the Victorian Admitted Episodes Data Set (VAED) and the Victorian Emergency Minimum Data Set (VEMD) on the data fields relating to 'preferred language spoken' and 'interpreter required'. It is anticipated that this data will assist in ascertaining community needs, and in the future will assist in determining funding for interpreter and translator services in public hospitals.

In addition, Victorian health services are required to develop and implement the Cultural responsiveness framework which specifies six minimum standards and performance improvement measures to improve health care for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Reporting to communities on the standards occurs through each health services’ annual Quality of Care Report.