Effective communication is crucial in healthcare. Patients need to be able to share their concerns with doctors, who then explain diagnoses and treatments. Without clear understanding on both sides, communication fails, impacting care quality. Good communication skills improve health outcomes, as patients who are informed about their care tend to do better.

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Several factors affect healthcare communication, including patient health literacy, cultural understanding, and language barriers. Health literacy means having the skills and confidence to navigate healthcare. In England, about 40% of people struggle with health literacy, rising to over 60% when the ability to understand and work with numbers is included. Poor health literacy leads to negative health outcomes because patients can't engage well with healthcare services.

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​Language barriers can make healthcare experiences more stressful and unsafe for both patients and providers. Cultural competence also is essential for effective communication and care. Ethnic minorities often report lower satisfaction with care, partly due to language issues. ​

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Translation services can help, but they are not always available, known about, or used, leading to miscommunication and poor care. Language barriers can make patients feel vulnerable and frustrated, creating additional mistrust and fear in healthcare settings. One common issue that patients face is the lack of knowledge of translation and interpretation services. A 2022 study on understanding barriers and experience of accessing interpreting services found that only 37% of limited English patients were offered interpretation/translation services.

 

While lack of awareness of language support services is only one part of the wider issue, it is a part that is arguably easier to address than other factors such as limited personnel, costs, and time investments. In order to understand this issue and create solutions, it is important to create opportunities for conversations to take place between pateints and healthcare workers. More dialogue will lead to deeper understanding of these issues which will result in closing the gap between limited English patients and their caregivers. The 'Breaking Silence' project was designed with this in mind. It is dedicated to advocating for patient rights and informing the public about the issue as well as the steps they can take to improve their healthcare experiences.  If one part of the issue is lack of awareness of the resources patients can access, this project aims to improve this awareness through a city wide sticker campaign. ​​