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

OHP - Leach Heath Medical Centre


Almost impossible to get a phone appointment.

My latest attempt to obtain a phone call appointment was a complete failure. I tried calling at 8am. The call takes you through all its option then you are forwarded to a record message telling you " due to a high number of calls you can not contact the surgery at this time" the line is dissconecte at this point. I tried again with the same result. It took me 14 attempts just to get in the queue, I was 8th in line. I was in line for 35 minutes until I eventually spoke to the receptionist who informed me there were no more appointments left. I explained that I had been on hold for 35 minutes. Her advice was to go down the surgery in the morning before 8am and queue up to speak to the reception in person. I explained I was ill with breathing difficulties and being out in the damp morning air made my condition worse. So I am in a catch 22 situation. I would like to know why it takes so long to get connected by phone and does the surgery get revenue from the call system. I would also like to know how many appointments are available each day. The way surgeries are working since covid is to to the advantage of the patients and seems heavily tilted towards lessoning the work load of the GP, s.