The Art of Communication: - Derry City Council

4.7.1.2 Barriers• EH job is target driven – output more than outcomes.• Visits take a lot of time to do because of communication difficulties.• Non-compliance is observed on a regular basis in Chinese premises.• Language barrier exists from the introduction/greeting.• The ‘time’ and ‘resources’ factors are big issues for Environmental Health.More apprehensive to enforce legal action in Chinese premises.• Reluctance, apathy and workload are the main things that will preventimprovement in communications in the future.• Standards are not improving despite letters being translated.4.7.1.3 Opportunities• Chinese people are very willing to comply with legislation and with EnvironmentalHealth.• You could see their (Chinese staff) eyes light up when we gave them translatedSmoke-Free literature to help with the premises.• Provide feedback of research through to subgroups and the Chief OfficersManagement Team.• Everyone is responsible including EHOs. The Chief Environmental Health OfficersGroup and the Chief Officers Management Team should provide definite support.Management commitment needed to obtain improvements.• Once we have all feedback then no reason why some implementation cannot bestarted immediately.• Chinese like to come into council as they feel it an “honour” to meet dignitaries.• We need to link in with Community Relations.• Improvement in face-to-face is the priority. To be really effective any interpreterneeds to be from Chinese catering background.• FSA backing is needed to help improve the effectiveness of how we communicatewith ethnic groups.The Art of Communication: A landscape shared between regulator and ethnic employer 25