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

City Hospital


Excellent experience

I was taken in late on a Saturday evening with a possible heart attack and feared the hospital would be packed and full of aggressive drunken people. How wrong I was. The media give such a false impression of what to expect. All of the doctors and nurses who treated and dealt with me were extremely professional, very friendly and totally caring. It was explained to me in great detail that I would need to stay in overnight and required tests every hour. I received nothing but apologies from them for having to do this despite it was totally required. When you are admitted in these circumstances you feel shocked, worried and very scared but I was so reassured by everybody that I spent a far more comfortable night than I could have expected. I have nothing but praise for the staff and how I was dealt with, and at the end I did not have a heart attack and so was even happier!!.