Pocketalk and Zebra partner to advance healthcare communication

Translation tech firm Pocketalk has launched an app on Zebra Technologies’ mobile computers, tablets and kiosks found in healthcare settings.

The Pocketalk Enterprise App enables frontline workers using Zebra mobile computers, tablets and kiosks to translate conversations and paperwork such as prescriptions using a device’s camera function, into more than 92 languages including minority languages and dialects.

This integration, which took place in June 2025, aims to save staff from using other incumbent solutions that often take up more time to implement and cost healthcare institutions millions every year.

Jess O’Dwyer, general manager at Pocketalk, said: “Integrating with Zebra’s devices means Pocketalk is now more than a handheld translator — it’s a scalable, multilingual communication platform, trusted across care settings and designed for the real-world needs of modern healthcare.

“In today’s world, when a patient that doesn’t have English as a first language is trying to express their symptoms, needs a glass of water, or wants to ask where the toilet is, they should be able to do this seamlessly.

“In London alone it is estimated that over 300 languages are spoken, including minority languages that aren’t always covered by existing solutions, such as human interpreters.

“This new collaborative solution means communication in healthcare is equitable for all. The need for instant translation services has never been more urgent.

“Proven, safe, and efficient tools need to be as readily accessible as any other healthcare tool used to support and elevate patient care.”

The ‘Improvement framework: community language translation and interpreting services’, published by NHSE on 27 May 2025, warns that digital exclusion can prevent the one million people in the UK who do not speak good English from accessing NHS services.

O’Dwyer added: “The recent NHS framework is a positive step, and it rightly recognises that language translation in healthcare cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach.

“We need a spectrum of solutions – human and digital – to ensure the right tool is applied to the right scenario. This flexibility is essential to address safeguarding concerns, reduce delays, prevent unnecessary overspend and offer better, patient-centric care.

“Living in a highly diverse country means language translation in healthcare and other sectors such as education, is a necessity not a consideration.”

Zebra’s technology has been adopted by NHS trusts, including Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, while Pocketalk is used by more than 25 NHS and 30 Irish hospitals and primary care networks.

Pocketalk’s handheld translation device was used across a network of eight GP surgeries in Southampton between April and August 2024, as part of a real-world validation study in partnership with SCALE Innovation.

Feedback from the pilot found that 100% of patients who used Pocketalk trusted it enough to use it again, while 93% of patients agreed it was easy to use and 83% said they would prefer to use the device than a traditional, telephone-based language interpretation system.