This study investigates communication practices with foreign-language speakers (FLS) in hospitals in the German part of Switzerland, focusing on the perception of healthcare professionals (HCP) regarding four groups of intermediaries providing interpreting services: relatives, coworkers, external interpreters, and digital tools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten HCP to assess their use of intermediaries in communicating with FLS and their perception in terms of comprehension, ethical principles, and satisfaction. Results suggest that HCP mostly used relatives as intermediaries and, to a lesser extent, coworkers and digital tools. Relatives were described as unpredictable but were appreciated for their availability and relationship to the patient. Participants were reluctant to involving coworkers despite satisfactory results. Digital tools were said to lead to frequent misunderstandings and artificial pauses. With concerns for cost and time vastly limiting external interpreter use, increased accessibility to those intermediaries was a common wish by HCP.