'Communication Beyond Words' Advocacy Group have drafted a letter to be sent to Werribee Mercy Hospital and the Mercy Health group calling for the implementation of 'TalkToMe', a free to use fixed-phrase translation app developed and used by St Vincents Hospital. We are calling on the local and broader community to sign this petition, in hope to bring meaningful change to communication practices at the only full service public hospital in one of Melbournes most multicultural local areas.

We have already contacted Werribee Mercy Hospital inquiring about the use of 'TalkToMe' and are still awaiting a response. We will post an update on this page as soon as we receive a response from hospital administration.

This petition will accompany the afformentioned letter. A draft of the letter is featured below.

"To whom this may concern,

I am sending this letter on behalf of The Communication Beyond Words Advocacy Group, calling on Werribee Mercy Hospital to implement the fixed-phrase translation app ‘TalkToMe’ on site to assist in communicating with their CALD-LEP patients. Werribee Mercy Hospital is the only full-service public hospital servicing constituents of The City of Wyndham and thus has a great responsibility in caring for the 296,748 people living in Wyndham. Over half of that population (157,954) were born in a country other than Australia. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021)

For example, Wyndham contains the highest population of South Sudanese Australians with 2,654, with 11.7% of those born in South Sudan declaring little to no English proficiency, with top languages spoken being Arabic and Dinka (2021 census). Of the 258,193 people who were born in India now living in Victoria, 51,160 reside in The City of Wyndham, with four of the top 5 languages spoken in the council other than English being Punjabi (21,205), Hindi (14,188), Urdu (8,495) and Telugu (7,467). (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021) These two demographics may differ vastly in number, but both are of equal importance in addressing translation needs. 

It is evident therefore that Werribee Mercy Hospital is caring for patients from a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In fact, Mercy Health reported providing more than 16,000 interpreting services across its hospitals in its published Quality Account 2019/20. While it is clear that efforts have been made to improve interpreting services within the hospital, according to the same Quality Account 2019/20, around 1 in 4 patients who required interpreting support did not receive it. There is still more work to be done. 

According to Mercy Health’s website, “providing a consistent level of customer service” is a key value in better serving their patients and we remind Werribee Mercy Hospital of another key value, to “embrace change as an opportunity for renewal and improvement”.

The change that we propose would assist both Werribee Mercy Hospital staff and patients in communicating basic phrases and it is free to use. ‘TalkToMe’ was developed by St Vincents and the City of Melbourne and is currently in use at St Vincents Hospitals in Melbourne. A 2024 international review of translation apps in the Medical field which included ‘TalkToMe’ and its effectiveness in Australia, resulted in positive feedback from both medical workers and patients. In particular, they noted a building of trust with migrant elderly patients and improved confidence in workers that health decisions being made for the patient were built on mutual understanding. (Rosendahl and Larsson, 2025)

Despite Werribee Mercy arranging a translator during a patient's initial visit upon request, said interpreter cannot be expected to remain on hand 24/7. What if a bout of pain or dizziness is experienced by a patient? Maybe they need to use the toilet? Well then, hospital staff are left guessing, waiting on family to help translate or worse turning to unverified apps like Google Translate to relay information between healthcare workers and CALD-LEP patients. 

Communication Beyond Words and their public supporters, request that Werribee Mercy Hospital implement the ‘TalkToMe’ fixed-phrase translation app in low-risk onsite patient care settings, in order to better facilitate the demand for translation and interpretation with the hospital's CALD-LEP patients.  

Regards, 

Communication Beyond Words Advocacy Group