Putting people first: Equality and Diversity Matters 2 - Think Local Act ...

46 Putting people first – equality and diversity matters 2accessible to people speaking languages otherthan English.Communicating across culturesIt is important that staff directly providingsupport feel confident to ask black and minorityethnic people about how they want tasks to becarried out and how well the service is workingfor them.Enabling good communication is more thanproviding staff with appropriate language skills,interpreters or written materials in differentlanguages. Assumptions and cultural differencesin communication need to be addressed as well. 63Good verbal communication skills can help staffto communicate with everybody. Staff need to: find ways of checking that they have beenunderstood listen to the words that the person uses andtry to use their vocabulary use plain English and avoid jargon or idioms address the person in the way that they prefer allow enough time for communication.Non-verbal communication can also varybetween cultures, for example ‘yes’ is indicatedby nodding the head in some cultures and byshaking it in others. Staff need to be aware thatthere may be differences in these conventions,and to check with the person concerned or theirfamily if they are uncertain.Communication – good practice pointersTarget recruitment to employ staff with relevantlanguage skills (see section 11).Research local interpreting and translationservices and telephone interpreting serviceswhich can be used where ad hoc interpreting isrequired.Use interpreting services where it is importantthat someone using a service has anindependent and accurate voice, for exampleif reviewing a care plan. Offer people a choiceof interpreters, including choice of gender, ifavailable from the service.Offer people advocacy to aid communication insituations such as meetings.Ensure that the documents given to peopleusing the service are translated when required.Allow enough time for communication - thisdemonstrates respect.Provide training and support to staff to developtheir skills, including verbal communicationskills, awareness of cultural differences in nonverbalcommunication and respect for differentvalues and views.Try to maintain continuity of staff working withsomeone as communication and trust builds upover time.63. Note footnote number will need checking Butt, J, Box,L and Cook, SL (1999), Ibid