Translators and interpreters called upon by Ipswich Hospital to help medical staff speak to their patients has cost nearly £90,000 in the last five years.

New figures uncovered by The Star reveal a total of £88,475 was spent on the service, which allows doctors, nurses and other medical staff to communicate with their patients about treatment and diagnosis.

While the amount spent each year has remained fairly stable, at around £15,000, it peaked in 2010/11, reaching £26,688.

But that higher figure correlates with a rise in the number of requests made for the services, which reached 270 in 2010/11 compared with 70 in 2011/12 and 98 last year.

A Freedom of Information request to the hospital shows hospital staff ask for interpreters speaking Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Kurdish and Bengali more than other languages.

The figures also include the cost of requesting British Sign Language translation services to help communicate with deaf patients.

Defending the cost, hospital spokeswoman Jan Ingle said they were “vital services” to ensure patients receive the best level of care.

She said in recent years the hospital has seen the cost of using the services fall, but added it was a vital part of treating patients for whom English is not their first language because it could be difficult to rely on a patient’s family.

“It is important that all of our patients, everyone who is cared for at the hospital, understands and has the opportunity to ask questions when they are either given a diagnosis or the care and treatment they will receive is being discussed,” she said. “We use a variety of interpreters and translation services, choosing the best fit for each patient.

“There isn’t a one size fits all policy we try to be very sensitive and appropriate in using language translators and interpreters.”