Not everyone who receives rationed care is satisfied with delayed therapy. Derrett et al listed responses of people waiting for elective surgery. The authors are from the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Factors affecting patient satisfaction include:
(1) anger over delays, which tends to be expressed by more severely affected patients experiencing a long delay
(2) lack of understanding about how the rationing system works
(3) lack of understanding where s/he is on the waiting list and why
(4) difficulty in planning holidays and other activities
(5) how well the system is administered
(6) personal willingness to complain
In some countries people do not want to be viewed as a nuisance and so do not voice their dissatisfaction. In other countries people are quite vocal about minor inconvenience. These cultural responses need to be taken into account when evaluating performance of these systems.
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