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.

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Original feedback for

Cofton Medical Centre


Used to be quite good

This practice used to be quite good but is now overwhelmed. apparently, it has 11000 registered patients whereas some other local practices only have 7000. I have had problems with my ear and struggled to get through on the phone and so self-treated with over the counter ear drops. I ended up with a raging infection on the right side of my face. I managed to get a call back with a practice nurse who prescribed antibiotics which helped... but after I stopped taking them, my ear became sore again so I rang the practice but had to listen to a couple of minutes of messages to then hear that the queue was at capacity. I eventually got a place in the queue and waited 14 minutes for the phone to be answered at about 11.30 (you have to phone before 1pm for an appointment the same day) to be told that the appointments were all gone. They said that they could not book me an appointment for the next day but I would have to repeat the procedure the next day. I would have preferred to have had a message telling me that all the appointments were gone before I wasted time in a queue (I am a carer and was trying to supervise my husband's day centre activities via Zoom at the same time). I was told to phone the out of hours service at Katie Road, got in a long queue and was told I would be called back within 6 hours (too late to get antibiotics from my local chemist today, if they prescribe them over the phone and then send a prescription). Really, I need someone to have a look at my ear and see what the problem is - there is no way I wish my hearing to be damaged and it affects the whole side of my face meaning that I struggle to eat or even talk. I am disabled by chronic illness and a carer so even spending a long time in a phone queue is a struggle for me. Proper funding and service are needed.