The plight of a frightened young woman undergoing a hysterectomy in a Brighton hospital in 1994 led to the birth of the Sussex Interpreting Service (SIS). Unable to speak English, she had no idea what was going on around her.
SIS started life as the Brighton, Hove and Lewes Interpreting Service in response to her situation and that of others facing language barriers. The need for its work was swiftly demonstrated.
Five years of rapid growth from about 50 to 200 interpreting sessions a month saw its role extend across the county and the name change.
Today SIS delivers 1,700 interpreting sessions every month and is a leader among the UK not-for-profit organisations working in this field.
Arran Evans, who stood down as SIS co-director on Friday (19 June), said: “Working with highly skilled community interpreters, we ensure refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants can access health and social care across Sussex.”
Its work reflects the true spirit of Brighton and Hove which was reflected in last weekend’s counter-demonstration in the city.
Mr Evans founded the service with Shahreen Shebli who remains as director. He brought experience to the project from the Single Homeless Project where he was responsible for leading refugee support and working with interpreters.
She had previously volunteered as an interpreter in her own BAME community where she had first-hand experience of the challenges faced by non-English speaking communities.
From the outset SIS supported a wide range of services, including physical and mental health, social care, housing, benefits, finance, learning and employment. Since 1994 it has delivered more than 300,000 interpreting sessions.
It has not all been plain sailing. SIS faced its biggest test during the 2020-21 covid pandemic lockdown. Unable to deliver face-to face-sessions, it reshaped its on-line work almost overnight to offer remote interpreting and developed extensive translated covid information resources.
It provided covid updates, arranged priority vaccinations for linguists and sent targeted translated SMS messages to service users, explaining where they could be vaccinated.
The pandemic experience helps the service cope with the growing impact of global conflict. 2024-25 was a record year with an increase of 10 per cent in the work. 21,548 interpreting sessions were provided for 6,198 displaced refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in 50 languages, among them Arabic, Polish, Farsi, Russian and Ukrainian.
A team of more than 150 self-employed community interpreters works with SIS to provide the service, which includes 24-hour support to meet emergencies, principally in A&E and maternity and mental health services. During 2024-25, 222 emergency sessions in 30 languages accounted for 297 vital hours of work.
Bilingual volunteers and social prescribers help service users overcome cultural and language isolation through regular contact.
Community interpreter events are held across Sussex to strengthen ties with local communities, raise awareness of interpreting services and offer clear guidance on how to enrol with SIS as a community interpreter.
Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board and Brighton and Hove City Council are among the organisation’s funders. The city council funded a support programme for Ukrainian refugees which involved interpreters and befrienders.
Working in partnership with Together Co Social Prescribing, SIS supported 372 refugees. It also hosted a Jubilee Library drop-in service staffed by social prescribers.
SIS works with all the NHS trusts across Sussex and its research has played a key role in the production of health plans and strategies, among them the NHS Sussex Women’s Health Implementation Plan and the Digital Exclusion Strategy.
In partnership with the NHS and local authorities, it has supported a series of multilingual health awareness campaigns including seasonal vaccination and kidney cancer awareness.
Partnerships have been established with many local grassroots groups, including the Brighton Women’s Centre, Brighton and Hove LGTB Switchboard, the Trust for Developing Communities and Friends, Families and Travellers.
The work of SIS has not gone unnoticed. In 2024-25 it was shortlisted for the Best Local Social Prescribing Team award at the National Social Prescribing Awards.
Elsewhere, an independent assessment of its work placed it in the top 5 per cent nationally of all assessed organisations.
A recent survey of 88 NHS service providers showed overwhelming positive satisfaction with SIS, highlighting professionalism, effective bookings and empathetic interpreters.
Nevertheless, it will shortly introduce a new integrated booking system. Shahreen said: “We are always looking for ways to improve our services which are so important for so many people.”
Plaudits have come from the likes of Bella Sankey, the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council. Councillor Sankey, said: “SIS linguists improve health, connectedness and quality of life. They are professional, empathetic and a true inspiration.”
One SIS service user said: “I feel much less isolated, less alone – the many difficulties I had in my life upon arriving in Britain have been largely resolved with the help given to me … I feel less fear, more confident.”
A customer service excellence assessor speaking at the SIS AGM said: “Staff are really wonderful and go above and beyond … SIS thrives on new challenges, with service users at the heart of everything … They really do care passionately about their lives … All stakeholders including commissioners rate SIS highly … They are a key influencer and co-ordinator.”
To learn more about SIS, click here.
