The Standards do not require all registrants who practise in Wales to be able to speak
Welsh. However, it is your responsibility to make sure that your patient understands all
of the information they need in order to make informed decisions, and where possible, you
should try to meet each patient’s communication needs. The Standards also state that you
must find out about laws and regulations that affect your work and follow them.
As the Welsh language has official status in law, you must find out and adhere to
relevant legislation regarding providing services in Welsh, such as the Welsh Language
Act 1993 and the Welsh Language Measure 2011. The document More than just words developed by the Welsh Government
also provides a good foundation to help organisations to understand why it’s important
to provide services in line with the needs of Welsh speakers.
For more information about how you can help meet the needs of Welsh language speakers,
see the Language as a clinical tool leaflet produced by the Welsh Language Board.
Language
as a clinical tool