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

Handsworth Home Treatment Team


Absolutely disgusting

I started having my mental health monitored by the home treatment team at the start of February this year. After voicing my concearns about past experiences with home treatment teams and continually telling them I was suicidal they arranged a psychology appointment mid Feb where I again raised the fact I was suicidal. I was told that if I reached out they would put a plan in place to help me stay safe. A day later I called them in crisis and was told I would get a call back, no call back came so I called them back in tears on my way to jump off a bridge I was told “ wait my turn” “ they were busy all afternoon”. I then called them again sitting on the railing of the bridge and was told to “stop talking like that” and “just go home”. I was found but friends on the bridge who dragged me off and took me to get my medication which I used to overdose on that night and morning. I subsequently spent the next 11 days in hospital being treated for an intentional insulin overdose. The staff at this home treatment team need to seriously look at themselves and realise when someone is in serious need of help and training should be given on how to speak to people who are clearly not well and distressed.