Right to Respond

As part of our commitment to providing an honest and transparent view of health and social care services, Healthwatch Birmingham encourages providers to respond to comments the public have left.

Alongside ensuring providers can have a fair say in discussions about their services, replying to reviews demonstrates evidence of responding to patient feedback for the CQC, who regularly monitor our Feedback Centre. It is also an effective way to recruit service users for any wider engagement work at your organisation.

Guidelines for provider responses:

  • Keep language appropriate and civil
  • Remain professional and treat people’s comments fairly
  • Engage with the content of the review by addressing specific points and avoid cut and pasting a standard response
  • Don’t disclose the service user’s personal details or any potentially identifying information
  • Where appropriate leave organisational contact details e.g PALS or patient engagement teams for people to get further information

Remember: your response will be seen by everyone who uses the Feedback Centre, not just the original reviewer. All responses are moderated in accordance with our moderation policy.

For full terms and conditions, including a guide to how right to reply works for service providers download this guide.

Your reply

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Original feedback for

Ashfield Surgery


Phone system could be improved

Recently I have had to use the GP phone appointment triage system. The hold times for reception to actually get through have been ridiculous - on one occasion I was trying for almost 30 minutes then when I finally got through there was a very long covid message, before I got to 2nd in the queue the system cut me off! The phone system could definitely be improved, and more receptionists should be made available first thing in the morning when appointments are released as I feel sorry fir them being bombarded. It also means they have to rush through booking & some can then loose the personal touch and appear ÔshortÕ which I am sure is unintentional. However, once I had got through I was told the GP would call me back, which they did & I felt I was really listened to. On one occasion I felt bad (& told the GP as such) as I only wanted a repeat prescription but had I take up an appointment to request this. I felt that there should be some other way to request this such as via email or web form where I didn't have to use an appointment that somebody else might have needed. On another appointment I received a phone triage. This was for an issue where the doctor needed to see me for a physical examination. Unfortunately, my phone triage was on a Friday afternoon. They therefore could not get me booked for the physical exam until Tuesday as there was a bank holiday. The appointment was with another GP so I had to explain everything again. I couldn't fault the care & attention shown by both GP's & understand that measures are required due to Covid, but this meant that I had to have a second appointment which somebody else could have had & a delay of 4 days. Triage is great for some if it is something that is simple that can be carried out over the phone. However I wonder if there is a way of potentially noting the nature of the issue somehow when the appointment is requested and those who may need a physical consultation be triaged first so that they could come in later on the same day if this was then needed? Prize Draw Data