St James's Hospital seeking tech solution after hiring interpreters 9,382 times last year
One of the country’s largest hospitals is considering the use of technology to communicate with patients who don’t speak English after it had to hire interpreters 9,382 times last year.
St. James’s Hospital in Dublin is currently exploring technological solutions to issues that arise when patients have “little or no English”, and is currently seeking quotations from suitably qualified IT companies.
The “vast majority” of the 9,382 interpretation assignments in 2025 required a translator to attend the hospital in person, and most of the assignments were concluded in less than an hour, according to procurement documents.
Ukrainian was the most common language for which interpreters were required, accounting for 1,852 or nearly 20 per cent of the assignments last year.
This was followed by Russian, which was required 1,564 times (16.7 per cent).
Interpretation services were needed for patients who spoke Romanian 1,456 times, and 1,033 times for patients who spoke...
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