The English Patient: A Model of Patient Perceptions of Triage in an Urgent Care Department in England

Abstract

We present research examining the role of organizational justice in the perceptions of patients visiting the urgent care department of a hospital. Patients’ perceptions of uncertainty were found to mediate the relationship between waiting time and satisfaction and between waiting time and anger. Further, waiting time was significantly negatively related to procedural justice perceptions. Procedural justice perceptions were significantly positively related to distributive justice perceptions, which in turn, were significantly positively associated with satisfaction. We discuss the implications concerning managing the attitudes of waiting customers.