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

Good Hope Hospital


Appalling and uncaring elderly care

My father, who is very frail and experiences severe breathing difficulties due to heart failure, was admitted to Ward 9 at Good Hope hospital. He was put in a side room due to carrying the flu virus. He was left for long periods with no attention. When he rand the buzzer it was frequently ignored. One evening I tried it twice myself when my father needed firstly a bed pan and then attention because of breathlessness. The first time it was ignored for 15 minutes then one of the nurses asked for it to be turned off ( I was stood at the desk waiting to see a doctor). I went back to the room to turn it back on and after another 10 minutes I had to find a nurse myself to ask for a bedpan. The second time, when he needed help with his breathing it was ringing for 25 minutes with no response. I had to go to the desk where 2 nurses were stood to be told that they were busy. Only when I insisted that he needed help with breathing did they actually come to the room. He is lying helpless in bed, unable to move his legs and with very little mobility or strength in his arms and is left in discomfort for hours. I have each day had to try to move him up the bed to make him more comfortable. On three days I have tried to ring the ward for information but the phone was unanswered. I waited 45 minutes on each occasion before having to give up and go to the ward in person. Father is no longer able.to feed himself but no one is monitoring his food intake and I am having to feed him when I visit at the evening mealtime. Tonight I had to leave him in tears because he knew he would be ignored the moment I left. I have always had the highest praise for Good Hope hospital and we have received exceptional care from the many departments we have used but Ward 9 is totally disgraceful.