How do healthcare ‘customer service’ employees construct meaning in their job?

Abstract

The United Kingdom (UK) government has taken an interest in modernising the National Health Service (NHS) which has led to the creation of customer service functions similar to private sector models (Hyde et al., 2005). Notably, this development includes the burgeoning of healthcare customer services and call centres where agents may respond to and address calls related to patient complaints and concerns – similar to complaints services in the private sector. A prominent example of this new ‘business’ centred ethos is the implementation of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) across healthcare organisations, which is a front line function involving the resolution of patient concerns (Department of Health, 2002)