LO
ConstraintCognitive automation2017-12-19
New South Wales makes engaging a certified health care interpreter mandatory whenever communication is essential, and tells staff not to use machine translation for clinical information
Interpreteroccupation page →
Event date / reported
2017-12-19
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
Medical interpreting
Interpreting between patients and clinicians, in person or remotely.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
New South Wales, Australia. The health ministry's policy directive, compliance with which is mandatory for NSW Health and a condition of subsidy, says health care interpreters are to be engaged in all health care situations where communication is essential for patients who are not fluent in English, including Deaf people, and that staff should not use apps or online machine translation such as Google Translate for clinical or official health information because current evidence indicates they are not sufficiently accurate; it defines a health care interpreter as a person accredited or certified by NAATI. One public health system's directive, under review since June 2026; it does not measure compliance or test machine interpreting.
What this means
In a large public health system, interpreting for patients is required to be done by a certified person, not a translation app.
What it does not yet show
One system's directive; it does not show how often it is followed or how machine interpreting performs.
What you can check
Open NSW Health Policy Directive PD2017_044 and find "Health care interpreters are to be engaged in all health care situations".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 1 linked task judgement above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
NSW Ministry of Health — Policy Directive PD2017_044, Interpreters: Standard Procedures for Working with Health Care Interpreters (published 19 December 2017) · verified 2026-10-09 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-09 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.