Language barriers vs. reliable medical care abroad

An interesting blog title to say the least; particularly as the two elements don’t really seem to fit together all that well, if we are to take note of current headlines over the last couple of weeks.

First we had shock reports which told us horror stories of British holidaymakers who were being ripped off by some Spanish hospitals charging extortionate amounts of money for medical treatment that should be free. Then worse still, Britons are alleged to have been turned away from A&E if they didn’t have adequate travel insurance in place.  Next, came the consumer research that the top fear for Brits travelling abroad is ‘getting ill and ending up in a foreign hospital’ (understandably, given these stories). But most recently we read quite a shocking case (in the ‘wave’ of real-life example stories linked to this subject). This story was about a British citizen who fell ill while travelling in Italy with early signs of pneumonia and was subsequently stung with a huge medical bill for hospital care that they were led to believe would be at no additional cost (or at least, they understood this to be the case).

Interestingly, this story also told of a difficulty with the language barrier – namely that none of the doctors and nurses at the Italian hospital in question, spoke a word of English.  But this is one element of the story that is no great surprise to us here at i-interpret4u.  We know it to be true that once you move outside of the usual tourist hot spots the chances of communicating with locals who speak English is much less common. 

With that in mind, it’s no wonder people struggle with communication in foreign hospitals.  Unfortunately, in this kind of situation it is vital that we are able to understand what is happening to us.  The issue of medical treatment, operations, medicine, allergies and of course, the resulting bill – are all aspects that we’d benefit from being 100% clear on from the very start.  At the time, had the traveller who ended up in the Italian hospital been able to communicate with the doctors in a common language, it would have avoided much, if not all of the misunderstanding which caused the situation in which the varying parties find themselves currently.

Ending up in a foreign hospital tops the list of fears for Brits travelling abroad this season…

During the last week or so the newspaper headlines have reported that hard-up hospitals in Spain are either turning British patients away from A&E if they don’t have adequate travel insurance or indeed are stinging UK citizens for health treatment which under EU reciprocal arrangement via the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)) should be free of charge.

We’ve been naturally quite drawn to these recent stories and it does suggest that some hospitals in Spain are more concerned with money than medicine.  Sadly, UK taxpayers, who have the misfortune of falling ill while on holiday and worse still, ending up in a foreign hospital and needing treatment, are being ripped off with huge medical bills.

It’s probably no great surprise then that a new piece of travel research commissioned by i-interpret4u, discovered that ‘getting ill and ending up in a foreign hospital is the single biggest top fear for Brits when travelling overseas.  These findings are indeed reflective of recent headlines.

A nation of worriers – our research also confirmed that 83% of UK holidaymakers confirm they do worry about going on holiday abroad leaving just a very small proportion of us (17%) completely at ease with the idea. Respondents were asked to name their top three fears when holidaying abroad – the majority of people cited getting ill and ending up in a foreign hospital as their biggest fear.  In second place was the prospect of losing your passport, followed by losing your luggage as the third most popular answer.

Dealing with scenarios like these while abroad are always worrying, you’re miles away from home, you don’t speak the language, often you don’t truly understand the culture.  To make matters worse, hospitals in Spain and many other countries are trying to survive in a struggling economy and tourist hot-spots like this that are popular with Brits put us directly in the line of fire from a cost point of view.  Add to that the language barrier and the scenario becomes all the more complex for even the most seasoned traveller to deal with.

 

Brits get stung for hospital treatment in Spain

The Daily Express covered an article this week which revealed that hard-up hospitals in Spain are stinging British people for health treatment that should be free, it says this is because Spain's crumbling economy is being destroyed by its doomed membership of the Eurozone.

The article continues to say that as a result, sick, injured and frightened British tourists and expats who have the misfortune to need emergency treatment while abroad are being swindled by hospitals that are more concerned about money than medicine.

Apparently the first question you're likely to be asked in a Spanish hospital is not "Where does it hurt?" but "Tienes seguro de viaje?" - do you have travel insurance? Answer “no” and you could be off to another hospital in a taxi - at your own expense of course. Evidence has also shown that the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) we're told to take abroad with us means nothing in a Spanish A&E.

This story left most of us at i-interpret4u wondering how many of these medical incidences could have been either avoided or indeed dealt with in a more cost-effective and efficient way (for both the traveller and the insurer) had the British traveller been able to communicate in Spanish at the point of arrival at the hospital – and perhaps even prior to that?  How many operations or treatments actually take place as a result of misunderstandings or through lack of coherent communication?  The numbers of cases are probably in their hundreds.  Indeed how many British citizens get stung with huge personal hospital bills because they don’t understand exactly what treatment they have just agreed to?

It’s worrying enough to become ill or injured while you’re on holiday, but ending up in a foreign hospital hundreds of miles away from home and the safety net of the NHS, is something that we’d all rather avoid.  Add to that the language barrier and you might as well have landed on Mars.