"Language problems at appointments"

This story has been posted by Healthwatch Tameside on behalf of a member of the public who did not provide their name. They said...

This lady accompanied her mother to the optician and the dentist. Her mother speaks some English but finds it easier to communicate in Urdu. The optician and the dentist were both asked by the daughter if they would speak Urdu or Punjabi (which they knew) to her mother. Both refused and spoke in English to the daughter, ignoring her mother, so she had to translate.

She does not want to name the people concerned but wants to raise this as an area of concern for her own family and others.