Health Links

Clinicians speaking with woman in office.

Who is this service for?

Heath Links is for people in Bristol who have English as a second language and have difficulty in accessing health services due to language and cultural barriers. Services that work within Sirona, as well as other healthcare professionals, are encouraged to contact us regarding any interpreting or cultural support needs they may have.

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

For more details please download our Health Links contact sheet.

What we do

Our service aims to improve access to healthcare for adults, children and families whose first language is not English. We provide an interpreting, language support and advocacy service in Bristol and the surrounding area.

We also want to help overcome cultural and language barriers in healthcare and improve health and communication within migrant communities including black and ethnic minority communities. We have a wealth of knowledge on issues relating to black and minority ethnic communities across Bristol.

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

Health Links provides interpreting either by face to face interaction or remotely via video consultation or a 3-way telephone call. Health link workers can also 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.