During your time with Language Empire, you will be required to undergo assignments which are held in a private home address or outside of a clinical setting. There are many different reasons that you may be required to attend a service user’s home or other venue, including; a follow up appointment, a mental health check-up, a social services visit, a council inspection etc. Whatever the reason for the home visit, there are different rules and procedures associated with this appointment setting and you should follow the steps below to make sure that you comply with Language Empires’ policy, as this is primarily for your safety.

If the appointment is to take place in the service user’s home; you will always be informed of this when the booking is offered to you. This allows you to assess whether you can easily travel to the appointment and to gather any necessary information beforehand. Where we have been provided with an overall nature of the assignment, we will always provide you with this so that you can prepare yourself before the assignment takes place. We can assist in making prior arrangements for you and the client on where to meet.

The address for the home visit will not be provided to you on the job sheet. This will instead be sent to you via text message or passed on to you via email so that no confidential information is lost in the process. If you do not receive this address, please make sure to contact Language Empire as soon as possible. Additionally, if you are struggling to find the venue, please call Language Empire and we will be able to search for it on our system and guide you.

Please note: in all cases the interpreter is required to wait a minimum of 30 minutes for the professional to arrive.

1. When accepting an appointment for a home visit, be sure you have the correct address spelt to you, and if possible, the postcode.
2. Unless you are sure that you know where the venue is located, check your up-to-date map when you first receive the appointment and call the office back immediately if you cannot find it. There are many new housing estates in our catchment areas.
3. We suggest that you do a practice run of the travel route beforehand, as home visits are usually more difficult to locate than public clinical venues.
4. Make sure that you do leave in plenty of time to travel to the venue, as this allows you to rectify any unexpected delays that you may encounter on your way, such as bad traffic, roadworks or difficulty finding parking.
5. When you arrive at the address, make sure it is safe to wait outside the house at an appropriate distance until the time of the appointment. If it is not safe, wait at the end of the street and phone the office. Please ensure that you are still able to see the professional arriving at the property.
6. If the professional named on the job sheet has not approached the house by the time of the appointment, contact Language Empire and continue to wait until instructed otherwise or the professional arrives.
7. Do not knock on the door of the property, even if you are unsure as to whether the professional is inside. If the professional is already inside then they will most likely contact Language Empire asking for the whereabouts of the interpreter. When we receive such a call, we will then contact you to update you. After this you will be authorised to knock and enter the premises, whilst you are still on the phone to Language Empire. If the professional does not contact Language Empire, you should wait outside for at least 30 minutes after the start time of the booking.
8. You may only go inside the property if the professional comes to the door and escorts you inside, so that you enter together. You must politely decline to enter the home of the non-English speaker if they invite you in, as this is for your own safety and to protect you.
9. Please ensure that you have means to contact Language Empire if there is an issue with the home visit. This includes taking a fully charged phone with you that should be switched off upon commencement of the appointment.
10. If you are going to be late to a home visit, the procedure is the same as a usual face-to-face appointment. You should call Language Empire and inform the bookings team that you are running late as soon as possible and give an estimated arrival time. Language Empire will then contact the professional to make them aware of the situation and request information on whether the delay is acceptable and if you should continue to make your way to the assignment.
11. You should always wear your ID badge when attending an appointment, regardless of whether it is a home visit or not. This is a requirement when attending all bookings, as it allows you to be easily identifiable by all parties involved and provides proof that you are the interpreter who has been selected and assigned by Language Empire.

Please note, in the event of a unannounced home visit, you must ensure that your presence is not known to the occupants of the home inside, even if you are unsure if the professional is already inside. You must contact Language Empire upon arrival if there are not professionals waiting for you at the agreed location and Language Empire will advise on what to do next.

Allow time for the professional to conduct a ‘meet and greet’ separately to provide a brief update should there be any relevant background information that needs to be taken into consideration during the session. Every effort should be made to ensure that this conversation takes place outside of the home visit before entering the property and conducting the session.

1. It is the professional’s responsibility to control the session and to ensure that the non-English speaker is free to talk at their own pace. This may involve the professional asking friends or relatives to give the patient privacy or informing other people present not to answer on behalf of the patient.
2. Ensure that everyone present hears your introduction with the code of practice and they understand that you will interpret everything that is said by all the parties present, known as the Linguistic Model of Interpreting.
3. Remember that we all have both a legal and a moral duty to protect children and vulnerable adults and if you hear a conversation which sounds as if it may indicate that vulnerable people are at risk of abuse, you should report it to the professional and to Language Empire Management as soon as you are able to in confidence.
4. If it is not appropriate to talk freely to the professional regarding other matters during the session, ask them to give you a few minutes to talk after the session has concluded, outside of the property.
5. When you enter any location to work, check the exits and agree with the professional on how you would need to leave quickly in an emergency. It is good practice to seat yourself so that your exits are not blocked if the non-English speaker becomes annoyed or agitated.
6. Do not allow yourself to be left alone in the home of the non-English speaker. If the professional leaves the room or the premises, you should go with them, as this is for your own safety and your actions during this situation should comply with Language Empire’s Lone Working policy.
7. If ancillary conversations outside of the room are irrelevant to the session, you may politely inform the professional of the topic, i.e ‘they are talking about the local housing price increases’
8. However, if the conversation outside of the room is pertinent to the service user, any children in the house or the professionals present, you should interpret what is said to the professionals and let them make the decision on whether to take action/ignore the information.

• Once the session has been completed, you are to ensure that both the professional and service user do not require any further interpreting aid from yourself. This is when your job sheet may be signed by the clinician present
• You must always leave the property at the same time as the professional.
• Do not invite yourself back into the property under any circumstances after leaving with the professional. If you have left or forgotten something at the venue, inform the professional if they are still with you at the time or contact Language Empire immediately if the clinician is no longer there. Do not go back to the property without prior authorisation and presence of the professional.

If when you arrive, the professional wants you to go elsewhere, either alone or with him/her, you must first contact the office to obtain advice. Do not travel to another venue without contacting Language Empire first, this is for your own safety.

Examples:

• You are redirected to a home visit from another booking eg. clinic/GP Practice.
• You are asked to go to a second house after your first appointment is completed
• The patient is admitted urgently to hospital. Remember that if you are available to go to the hospital, a new appointment is required to ensure that Language Empire can pay yourself accurately for your time. Always contact Language Empire before agreeing to conduct a new booking outside of your agreed booking schedule.

1. If the appointment is booked by the office but takes place when the office is closed, you can call the office number (08453702002) if you have a problem. This is automatically diverted to the Out Of Hours service when the office closes; this is manned by a member of the Language Empire Management Team.
2. If the professional does not turn up, contact Language Empire at the start time of the session to advise of the situation. If we are unable to contact the professional directly, you should wait for the duration of the appointment. If it comes to the end of the duration and the professional has still not arrived, contact Language Empire before you leave to update the team.
3. If you are unsuccessful in reaching a member of the Out Of Hours service, you must wait for the full duration of the appointment time and then leave. However, you must always attempt to contact Language Empire before leaving the property, even if you were unable to reach a member of staff when you arrived.
4. Home visits should only be accepted for out of office hours times if they are arranged in advance by Language Empire’s booking office. Language Empire will have the contact details of the booking requestor, so we can contact them for out of office appointments if there are any issues.

1. If the client does not open the door to you and the professional, it may be asked of you to write a note in the non-English speaker’s language to inform them that (s)he has called and will get in touch again.
2. If you are aware that the client cannot be present at this property because you have recently interpreted for them e.g. as an inpatient in the hospital, or at their new home, it is appropriate to inform Language Empire before the appointment time and ask them to contact the professional, informing them of the situation.
3. However, if the information regarding the client’s whereabouts is derived from an unofficial source, you should still attend the appointment and, if appropriate, interpret any information from the occupants of the house which could help the professional locate the non-English speaker.

1. Do not offer to shake hands, but you can do so if invited to. You must not make any other contact with the service users outside of the professional handshake greeting
2. Do not touch the service users without clear professional intent nor make assumptions on the cultural habits/acceptances of the people present. For example, it is polite and acceptable to shake hands with them in greeting, but refrain from overly friendly touching, which is inappropriate in a professional setting eg. Hugging. This applies for children and other people present at the session (including friends/family).
3. If the patient has a baby or a child, do not become friendly with the child (i.e. do not handle the baby or being friendly/playful towards the children). Be professional but approachable
4. Before entering the house you should ask if the people present would like you to take off your shoes
5. When attending a home visit do not wander around the patient’s home or invite yourself into other rooms without the professional
6. Do not ask to be shown around or given a tour.
7. Do not comment on the home environment
8. You should wait to be invited to do so before taking a seat
9. Do not eat/drink from the patients house, unless absolutely necessary
10. Be aware of the Lone Working Policy, the Infectious Disease Policy & Language Empire’s Code of Conduct.
11. Do not complete any work/interpreting duties for the non-English speaker outside of the session without the professional present eg. Do not make phone calls on their behalf, or escort them to a car/taxi etc.