Meet Tiffany, a receptionist at a busy and diverse practice in Newcastle, where 42 different languages are spoken.
“We have an extremely diverse patient population, but I’ve found that you can always find something to relate to in everyone. You can always find that human connection, and I find that so lovely, and so humbling. I love this job. It’s challenging, but I’m a problem solver, so I absolutely love when I manage to overcome something on behalf of a patient.”
We filmed Tiffany on a day in July 2023, and during the film we see her at the busy front desk of the reception of the practice which has more than 11,000 patients. Her role includes welcoming and booking in patients, but also checking the fire alarm, triaging patients for the GPs, booking appointments at the practice and local walk-in centres, managing patient samples and updating patient records.
More than 400 calls were taken the day of the film, with 116 appointments fulfilled and 257 prescriptions processed. As with all GP practices in the city, their work is more than just appointments and prescriptions, with the practice also managing tests and results, coordinating hospital letters and referrals, doing safeguarding reports, contacting patients to flag up when they may need a test, treatment or to self-care and much more.
Tiffany has lived in the West End all her life and is learning Romanian to help support some of the many patients who come into the practice.
There are 42 different languages spoken by patients at the practice including Arabic, Romanian, Bengali, Czech, Spanish and Cantonese. 22% do not have English as their first language. There is a well-established Pakistani/Bangladeshi community, and a growing population of people from Eastern Europe. The practice uses interpreters both face to face and on the telephone.