Search results

Long waiting times are a serious problem for patients using urban health centres in developing countries. A block appointment system was introduced and evaluated in a large South African health centre. Waiting times of all patients were measured over a one‐week period before and after the implementation of appointments. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with staff and patients. After introducing appointments, patients with acute and chronic illnesses and having appointments had significantly shorter waits than similar patients without appointments (difference in median waits: 63 and 39 minutes respectively). Appointments had no benefits for patients not seeing doctors or collecting repeat medication. There was, however, an overall increase in patients’ waiting times after introducing the system, mainly due to one atypical day in the follow‐up study. Focus groups and interviews revealed that staff were sceptical at baseline but at follow‐up were positive about the system. Patients were enthusiastic about the appointment system at all stages. The study shows that block appointments can reduce patient waiting times for acute patients, but may not be suitable for all patients. Staff and patients had different views, which converged with experience of the new system.

This chapter examines one of the most contested issues in Public Administration, namely political–administrative relationships. The first part of the chapter begins with a brief overview of the features of an ideal-type bureaucracy. Next is a literature review of political–administrative relationships. This is followed by an analysis of typologies of political–administrative relationships, with particular reference to developing countries. The second part of the chapter analyses the evolution of political–administrative relationships since the dawn of South African democracy in 1994. It examines the growing politicisation of the public service, the weakening of the powers of public officials vis-a-vis Ministers and the emasculation of the PSC. Data indicate that the government is unable to fill posts at the Senior Management Service (SMS) level and that there are a high number of acting HoDs, an indicator of instability. Finally, it uses Dasandi and Esteve’s typology of political–administrative relationships in developing countries to interpret the South African case.

Women have conquered the universities but their way into top positions is still stopped by a class ceiling. Focusing appointment procedures for full professors the chapter examines why policies aiming at gendered practices have only shown moderate success.

The analysis follows a praxeological approach and draws on material derived from case studies covering all 22 universities in Austria. The aim of these case studies was to analyze the implementation of a new legal framework for appointment procedures at Austrian universities.

In this chapter, the effects of specific measures to tackle gender bias in appointment procedures for full professors in the Austrian context are analyzed. It is evident that despite gender awareness and a comprehensive set of regulations, regularly traditional practices remain stable and unreflected with regard to an inherent gender bias. The analysis presented thus reveals the limitations of existing equality policies. We can assume that reflexivity is a precondition for a change of unreflected practices, but does not form a part of existing policies.

We conclude that policies aimed at changing gendered practices have to (1) built up gender awareness as well as gender competence and (2) encourage reflexivity as well as agency among all stakeholders involved in a practice. Although there are cases where reflexivity arises from an individual conviction with regard to equality, most stakeholders have to be convinced – or even forced – by a superior authority to change their practices. Such a change can be forced by legal obligation or set down as a clear requirement by university management. It becomes evident that any guideline or regulation addressing gendered practices have to be accompanied by features that create room for reflection and reflexivity.

Missed appointments within the National Health Service (NHS) are a drain on resources, associated with not only considerable time and cost implications, but also sub-optimal health outcomes. This literature review aims to explore non-attendance within the NHS in relation to causes, impacts and possible mitigation of negative effects of missed appointments.

MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus and PubMed were searched with a date range of 2016–2021. Databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English addressing non-attendance of adults within the NHS. Studies were excluded if they were theoretical papers, dissertations or research concerning patients aged under 18. A total of 21 articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for analysis.

The results indicate a significant association of non-attendance and poor health outcomes. Patients from a lower socioeconomic status, adults aged over 85 and those with multiple co-morbidities are more likely to miss appointments. The most commonly reported patient-centred reasons for failing to attend were forgetfulness, transportation difficulties, and family commitments. Practice-specific reasons were cited as inefficiencies of the appointment booking system, failure of traditional reminders and inconvenient timings. Interventions included text reminder services, the inclusion of costs within reminders and enhanced patient involvement with the booking process.

Non-attendance is complex, and to secure maximum attendance, targeted interventions are required by healthcare facilities to ensure patient needs are met. The adaption of scheduling systems and healthcare services can assist in reducing DNA rates.

The purpose of this article is to explain the dynamics of public appointments and present new possibilities for research in this field.

The article is based on a systematic literature review from 2012 to 2021, identified in Web of Science, Scopus and SciELO, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. To explain the dynamics of public appointments, the following were analyzed: the nomination process; the motivations, objectives and criteria used; the results and impacts of appointments; and the profile of the nominees. The study focused only on discretionary appointments to fully public bodies and agencies.

The literature offers a limited explanation for the dynamics of appointments, by focusing on the dichotomy between loyalty and competence. Despite this, studies suggest that different contextual factors, such as administrative tradition or strategic choices, for example, determine the dynamics of appointments, indicating that it is a complex process that goes beyond the simple discussion of merit or clientelism.

The article presents an unprecedented analysis of the literature on the dynamics of public appointments and proposes an explanatory model that indicates that other factors, in addition to merit and loyalty, should be considered relevant for the selection criteria, the nomination process and the profile of who will be appointed. This model is useful both for the practical management of appointments and for the advancement of theory in this field and should receive improvements and future empirical evaluations.

This study aims to investigate whether factors previously shown to influence attendance rates for appointments in general practice and general mental health services also influence attendance rates in services for people with intellectual disabilities (ID).

Post hoc data from 452 psychology appointments, ID diagnostic and initial screening (triage) appointments were collected from the health-care files of a community adult ID psychology service. Demographic factors (age, sex) and clinical factors (waiting time, time between appointment invitation being sent and appointment being held, presence of prior telephone call or letter, type of appointment, weekday, month) were recorded along with the attendance outcome (attended/did not attend [DNA]). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also explored by documenting whether the appointment predated March 2020.

No significant associations were found between any variable investigated and attendance outcome when analysing appointment data as a whole and when splitting the data between appointment type. Weekday was found to significantly be associated with attendance outcome for appointments held during COVID-19, in which more DNA appointments occurred on a Wednesday compared to the other days of the week. No other associations were found for appointments held during the COVID-19 pandemic or for appointments held prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. These results suggest that factors which influence attendance rates in general health-care settings do not necessarily generalise to ID services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine whether certain demographic and clinical factors influenced attendance rates in an adult intellectual disability service.

Evaluates the findings from a study designed to identify factors that motivate Australian managers to accept expatriate appointments in the East‐Asian business region. These findings derive from 20 Australian business enterprises which have a physical presence in the East Asian business region. Results point to the need for a reassessment of existing Australian business practices in offering overseas business appointments to management staff. While extrinsic issues such as monetary satisfaction are important to the decision to seek and accept an overseas appointment, of more critical importance is how the overseas appointment, advances a person’s international career; and the opportunities the overseas appointment presents for professional development generally. A further consideration is the type and extent of information received by prospective international staff from those who have “gone before”. Overall, confirms the need for less attention to money and perquisites as inducements to accept overseas appointments. Suggests that more attention needs to be directed at the satisfaction of more intrinsic development and career advancement opportunities.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

While existing UK studies conduct a cross‐sectional analysis, this paper seeks to argue that the ratio of Executive Directors to non‐executive director (NED) on the boards of UK firms, coupled with a gradual appointment process, motivated by firms’ desire to comply with the recommendations of the Cadbury report, has the potential to produce a temporal effect.

Data for this study were collected from January 1990 to May 2000.

The empirical analysis suggests that a temporal pattern does exist. Two distinct periods were identified. In the initial period, prior to March 1998 the market viewed NED appointments favourably. After March 1998 NED appointments were no longer significant economic events. Overall, it appears that the market viewed the appointment of NEDs to the boards of FTSE 350 firms favourably; suggesting that such appointees were viewed as a significant input by firms as they attempted to achieve an optimal corporate governance mix.

This paper contributes to the small body of literature on the market's perception of the value of non‐executive, outside, director appointments to FTSE‐350 firms from 1990 to 2000.

The purpose of this study is to examine the character of any market response to the appointment of outside directors. The main propositions tested are: whether the stock market responds unconditionally to these appointments or whether the market response is conditional on the degree of the agency problem faced by the firm and the affiliation of the appointees.

The authors use a New Zealand sample of the appointments of outside directors during the period from July 1999 to June 2004. The unconditional market response is examined analysing the abnormal returns generated by the appointing companies during the three‐day announcement period. The influences of the agency problem and the affiliation of directors are tested by employing multiple regressions.

The findings provide strong support for the second proposition; the market considers the degree of the agency problem faced by the firm and the affiliation of outside directors in responding to these appointments. The percentage of outside directors in the board emerged as the strongest governance mechanism which, together with firm size, posed a significant inverse influence on announcement period abnormal returns. A strong interaction effect between appointee status and the agency problem was not present.

The mere appointment of outside directors may not please the firm's investors. Such appointments are more useful for companies with severe agency conflicts; even if such a conflict is present, the affiliations that these outside directors have with the executives and the operations of the appointing companies may need to be considered in determining the value of such appointments.