Supporting labour analgesia choices for the East Timorese community

Introduction
Providing labour analgesia choices and supporting decision making are fundamental to the role of the obstetric anaesthetist. Our Trust provides care for 5000 - 6000 deliveries per year. We have a significant local population (2,874) of residents from Timor-Leste (East Timor), a small nation in SE Asia with a similar size population to Northern Ireland. Approximately 93% of this community live within our catchment area. Timorese population averages for the UK estimate up to 20,000, so a concentration of this group live in our relatively unpopulated region (0.7% vs 0.03% of UK).

The native language of East Timor is Tetum, with a small number of Portuguese, English and Malay speakers. Even amongst Tetum speakers there is significant regional variation in dialect and tradition. Whilst Northern Ireland has Tetum interpreters, we have sometimes had difficulty accessing this service out of hours – often when it is needed most, for instance at an emergency caesarean section. There is no phone interpreter service for Tetum in the UK. Many of these women have an interaction with anaesthetists and a higher incidence of operative delivery compared with the general population.