Waiting for the Doctor: Managing Time and Emotion in the British National Health Service, 1948-80

Area of Science:

• Medical History
• Social History
• Psychology

Background:

• Historical analyses of waiting often focus on negative emotions and discipline.
• Sociological assessments emphasize rationalization and standardized time in healthcare.
• Existing research risks underplaying the affective dimensions of healthcare technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine patient and doctor emotional/psychological entanglements with appointment systems.
• To contextualize affective responses to healthcare regulation.
• To contribute to the emotional history of the National Health Service (NHS).

Main Methods:

• Historical analysis of appointment systems in British general practice (1948-1980).
• Focus on patient and doctor psychological and emotional responses.
• Exploration of affective life surrounding regulatory technologies.

Main Results:

• Appointment systems generated complex, often contradictory, emotional and psychological responses.
• Patient and doctor experiences extended beyond negative emotions associated with waiting.
• The affective dimensions of temporal regulation in healthcare were significant.

Conclusions:

• Understanding the emotional history of the NHS requires acknowledging patient and doctor affective entanglements.
• Regulatory technologies in healthcare have profound psychological impacts.
• This study highlights the diverse affective and temporal modes within the British welfare state.