Service saves £700,000

A new phone translation service at the Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Rochdale Infirmary, has saved £700,000.

The trust, which runs hospitals in, Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and North Manchester, switched from using translation agencies to the phone service and a bank of interpreters to support its in-house service.

A year later, translation costs have dropped by 70 per cent, to £300,000.

Now Pennine Acute is looking for companies to bid to provide translation and interpretation services for the same cost for the next five years.

The trust interprets into 65 languages.