In the health care sector in Germany, as in many other European countries, there is a shortage of translators, interpreters and bilingual medical staff. This article describes the efforts of a health centre in Mannheim to improve the situation in order to provide its patients, the majority of whom are Turkish migrants, with quality care. The paper discusses possible remedial measures, including better cooperation between doctors and authorities, awareness raising, advice on dietary issues, in order to ensure that non- German-speakers receive the same treatment as German natives. Previous studies have shown that a patient’s health literacy determines whether or not they are able to obtain quality care. Insufficient foreign language skills coupled with poor health literacy frequently result in inadequate treatment or even no treatment at all and a low compliance rate, especially when patients do not have access to interpretation. Providing qualified interpreters would therefore be a major step towards improving access to both health and social services for migrants.