The NHS is spending £130,000 a day on translation and interpretation with the costs more than doubled over the past five financial years.
NHS trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs) have spent £31million on translation and interpretation in the financial year of 2020/21, according to figures obtained by The Telegraph through freedom of information requests.
However, the cost of these services reached £64million by 2024/25 – which is more than double the sum spent during the Covid pandemic.
The data indicates that the total spending on translation and interpretation over the five financial years was £243million – which is equivalent to the cost of employing almost 2,000 NHS nurses.
It costs taxpayers more than £133,000 each day to fund these services, analysis of the data shows.
Some of the total spending goes towards British Sign Language for deaf patients, along with further help for the blind community to communicate.
The Home Office pays for asylum seekers to receive free translation and interpretation while their applications are processed.
The British Medical Association has said: “Patients with limited English or literacy can find it difficult to engage with NHS services”.
The NHS is spending £133,000 per day on translation and interpretation services
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PA“NHS providers have certain obligations to reduce inequalities between patients accessing services, which may apply to language interpretation needs,” the BMA said.
Only 167 NHS trusts and ICBs responded to the requests for data, representing 65 per cent of NHS providers.
It means the true expenditure could be much higher.
Six organisations based in London spent more than £1million on translation and interpretation services in the 2024/25 financial year alone.
Manchester University Foundation Trust spent £8.4million over the last five financial years – the highest of any NHS providers
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South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust were two of the highest total with £1.9million.
They were followed by Royal Free London Foundation Trust with £1.6million.
Homerton Healthcare Foundation Trust came in with £1.4million.
Seven NHS organisations outside of London reported spending over the £1million amount in the same period.
The highest came from Manchester University Foundation Trust with £2.4million.
It was followed by Greater Manchester ICB which spent £1.9million and the University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust which totalled £1.3million.
Over the full five financial years, Manchester University Foundation Trust spent £8.4million – which was the highest of any NHS providers which responded to The Telegraph’s request.
Breaking down the languages for face-to-face interpretation for 2024/25, Urdu translation topped at £463,000.
Arabic came in at £252,000 and British Sign Language at £184,000.
Cantonese at £130,000 and Bengali at £71,000 rounded out the top five.
The Health Improvements and Disparities Office’s website said: “General Medical Council guidance states that all possible efforts must be made to ensure effective communication with patients.
“This includes arrangements to meet patients’ communication needs in languages other than English,” it further states on the website.
An NHS spokesman said the “services are a legal requirement and essential to delivering effective and safe patient care, and it is right that the NHS offers these.”