 The Department of Immigration and Citizenship provides free interpreting services to medical practitioners in private practice. Doctors can access a TIS National Interpreter using our 24-7 Priority Telephone Interpreting Service, the Doctors Priority Line. When you want to use an interpreter, call the Doctors Priority Line, quote your client code and state the language you require. Our service standard is to provide you with an interpreter in a major community language within three minutes. Welcome to TIS National. Josh speaking, how can I help? Hi, my name's Dr Jones. I have my patient here with me and we would like to use a Spanish interpreter please. Yes, certainly. Do you have a client code? Yes, I do. It's C for Charlie. A TIS National Interpreter is only a phone call away. When both the doctor and patient are ready, TIS National can connect an interpreter by telephone and there's no time lost if the patient's appointment is delayed. Thanks for holding. I've got the interpreter on the line. You can go ahead. Great. Thank you. Hello, Interpreter. It's that simple to obtain a telephone interpreter immediately. Medical practitioners can access a TIS National interpreter quickly and free of charge when they call the Doctors Priority Line. There's no need to make do with bilingual staff or family members who may not be available when you need them and who may not have adequate language skills. With TIS, you can access an interpreter within three minutes for the cost of a local call and TIS undertake to provide you with that interpreter on the phone. They're really accurate. They're respectful. They're appropriate. It's just such a relief to use such a professional service and it's so easy to use even in busy general practice. Many patients that I use interpreters for actually come from quite small language backgrounds and they're really sometimes unwilling to have a patient interpreter in the consultation with them. Some language groups are quite small and I've actually had patients sometimes, you know, try and ask the interpreter who they are or where they're from or if they're this person. And the interpreters have been very professional and said, I'm not able to say and this is just my first name. The telephone interpreter service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So it offers me the flexibility of being able to use somebody when I'm on a home visit. It offers me the flexibility of using somebody after hours. They're prepared to wait while I go out into a procedure. They're prepared to sit by while I vaccinate a room full of kids. There is an availability of about 200 languages so it gives me more flexibility about the languages I can use. I think sometimes there's just a lot of cultural nuances that as well as just literally interpreting some of the interpreter can help out a little bit by just sort of bridging some of those cultural differences and explaining things kind of in the right paradigm. It's very convenient. It's at cost of a local phone call and they will pick up your phone call within about four or five rings. The doctor's priority line is for GPs and specialists in private practice. The doctor's priority line can be used when providing services which are claimable under Medicare to Australian citizens and permanent residents. Reception staff can also call the doctor's priority line when they're arranging an appointment or providing the results of a medical test to a doctor's client. TISNational provides you with interpreters accredited by NAATI, the National Accreditation Authority for translators and interpreters wherever possible. TISNational interpreters are bound by the OSIT code of ethics to maintain confidentiality, to be impartial and to be accurate in all interpreting without adding or emitting information. Pharmacies can also access free interpreting for the purpose of dispensing pharmaceutical benefit scheme medications. To register for the doctor's priority line or for further information on TISNational services, please visit our website or call our client liaison and promotions team.