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

Hockley Medical Practice


Almost impossible to get an appointment

It is extremely difficult to get an appointment, even if it is a phone appointment. There aren't many ways to make contact anyway (only one phone number). The advice from the practice is to call for booking appointments at 8am but it is impossible to get through and by 10 am, all appointments are gone and you are asked to call back the next day, no matter how uncomfortable or in pain you are! The suggestion is to go for the walk-in clinic in that case but that usually takes hours of waiting, unless, of course, it's an absolute emergency. So, if you need medical attention from this practice, you generally have to spend a few hours trying to contact them and then a few hours in a walk-in clinic, which is all highly inconvenient if you are working. On top of that, the doctors can sometimes give you the impression that your medical problem is not serious enough. I have even had to go for private options at times, even though I have paid IHS. I would have changed my surgery but there aren't many good options in Birmingham (judging from reviews). Very disappointing!