Further to a conversation we have been having about translation/interpreting:
I tried to get ipads into our front door/reception areas a few years back so our volunteer workforce would have some immediate translation options. ‘Too hard (where would it be secured)’, ‘No money (it’s a volunteer workforce, not well funded)’, ‘not a priority (get me the data to show we have an issue)’ sigh
I wonder if we have a new opportunity now, with HealthNZ and more regional collaboration? There are some relatively easy improvement/innovation wins available if we can deploy consumer tools like this. One area with both experience and efficiency/productivity benefits is wayfinding and resource tracking (so you can find a wheelchair or specialist medical equipment). As we invest in infrastructure and have the BIM data and wifi points everywhere, knowing where you are and where something is, could open up massive wins. Austin health in Australia, a smaller hospital than Aucklands Grafton site, fixed their wayfinding system and saved nearly $2m p.a. in staff time by avoiding the need for staff to be interrupted to give wayfinding directions… The Austin health starting position was better than Auckland’s is right now. All I need is a design team, the tech, and decent sponsorship… 
And I’m serious about building a team too, these sorts of changes need internal capability, not more reports or Service Now like deployments funding consulting firms. ‘No transparency’ on DHBs’ contractor spending | RNZ News
opengraphobject:[360782524997632 : https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463719/no-transparency-on-dhbs-contractor-spending : title=“‘No transparency’ on DHBs’ contractor spending” : description=“Researchers have found big holes and major discrepancies in records of how almost half a billion dollars is spent propping up the country’s public health system.”]
In our multi cultural New Zealand I am not sure Google should be our “go to translation tool”. Yes use an app to assist, however I have “tested” the Google translate on a few languages and it is “iffy” especially when dealing with “fringe” languages. An opportunity to find an app that could focus on the top 10 / 15 languages spoken in NZ?
Yes I wasnt so bold as to suggest it’s use in clinical conversation. Only in telling a visitor how to get to elevator A, level 8 etc I haven’t looked at it to see how well it covers the dialects we have come through our doors.
My wife who is doing Covid vaccinations has used this around getting patient consent. Older people with poor english being bought in for a vaccination by a family member. It is important to get the patient’s ok rather than it being given by the family member.
This is a very simple use case and you probably start having problems with it’s wider use.
What i find interesting, and this is from my time in the NHS and here in NZ is that we go to great pains to record the patients preferred language, organise interpreters etc, and then continue to send out appointment letters and reminders in English. Surely we are at the point where it would be logical to have systems where we can communicate appointment details in the patients native language? This would help reduce DNA’s and give the patient more understanding of their next steps.
Most modern software (at least the good stuff) that is written for an international audience caters for this - or at least should. I guess that in health we are still struggling with the basics, eh?