Birmingham Integrated Language & Communication Service (BILCS)

Who we are

BILCS is a pan-Birmingham service based at Gee Business Centre, Holborn Hill, Nechells, Birmingham, B7 5JE and funded by three primary care trusts: Heart of Birmingham (HoB), South, and Birmingham East and North (BEN).  Since its creation in 2001, the demand for interpreters through BILCS has increased year-on-year by 15%, an increase that is largely due to the rise in economic migrants, refugees and asylum seekers coming to Birmingham.
Interpreters.

Services we provide

BILCS can provide interpreters for any planned medical intervention. We require all bookings to provide us with the following:

        1.  Patient’s name and postcode
        2.  Patient’s hospital ID number (if known)
        3.  The language spoken (and dialect, if known)
        4.  Name and postcode of patient’s GP
        5.  Date, time and duration of appointment
        6.  Location of the appointment (including address and postcode)
        7.  Service, department and speciality (eg, District Nurse, Health Visitor)
        8.  The name, job title and telephone number of the person booking the interpreter.

 If the booking is for a home visit, we need a mobile telephone number too. Without this information, we are not able to book you an interpreter. In exceptional circumstances, an interpreter can be made available by phone.

Cultural and Religious sensitivity

We do our best to accommodate special requests on cultural grounds for male or female interpreter, and a named interpreter can be arranged for the sake of continuity. In such cases, we will need the previous BILCS Authorised Code (BAC).

Please note

 
Keeping interpreters waiting, appointments that over-run, no-shows (DNAs) and cancellations are all a drain on our resources.  To avoid confusion over billing and payment, if you use the interpreter for longer than stated on your booking confirmation, please update BILCS as soon as possible.  

Booking an interpreter

Telephone Bookings: Call 0121 465 4858 between 09:00 and 17:00 Monday to Friday
Minicom: 0121 465 4859
Fax Bookings: Complete the BILCS Fax Booking form (available from the BILCS office) and fax it to 0121 465 4855

Queries

For general enquiries and information, or to make amendments to your booking, call 0121 465 4856 / 0121 465 4857. For invoice queries, call 0121 465 4860/1.