INTRODUCTION

• Maternal morbidity disproptionately affects those born outside the UK [1]

• Furthermore, ethnic differences in obstetric anaesthetic care in the UK have been observed [2]

• There are a variety of second languages spoken in England [3]

• 1.5% of the population in England & Wales do not speak English well and 0.3% of the population do not speak English at all [3]

• A variety of methods (incl. accredited interpreters (phone or in-person), translated written information (e.g. OAA patient information [4]), or more informal assistance (e.g. staff or family) are frequently necessary to enable communication with patients

• Communication with non-English speaking patients may be especially challenging in obstetric anaesthesia, where many anaesthetic-related contacts are unplanned and take place in a time- pressured environment