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

Mary Seacole House


No humanistic/realistic approach by dr

My wife went in voluntarily and after a few days her mental health improved a lot. I was positively surprised, also most of the nurses were very friendly. If she was in this state last Monday there would have been no need for help and thus I wouldn’t have asked for help. The doctor however seems to have difficulties to actually do a proper assessment and apparently is in no rush whatsoever, because visiting her once a week should be sufficient. My wife was ‘confused’ and therefore unable to express herself or understand what the dr says. My wife speaks Thai/German… it’s no rocket science to figure out the main cause of ‘confusion’. Since I speak fluent German I offered to help, because I requested for discharge so my wife would be able to travel overseas with me so she can say goodbye to her grandfather who basically raised her from birth till she was 11. This was frowned up on with scepticism at the first talk we had but after that not option for the dr. And so here I am alone at the airport because the dr, in ‘all her wisdom’ decided to bar the request for discharge. A total lack of humanistic approach, which in the worst case has consequential damages that cannot be expressed in monetary terms! If my wife will be discharged this week then the financial damage is now already around £2500. The dr. would be wise to use the nurses' work ethic as an example and also by doing everything possible to make sure her total lack of empathy will rise to a basic level. A rate of 4 stars would do justice to the hardworking nurses and other staff members who provide service with the right intentions. This inhumane experience with the dr. Is the main reason for the 2 stars. She actually walked right passed me without the having the decency to tell me what her eventual decision was, but let me wait even longer and then sent her little helper to give me the bad news. Tried to have a conversation with her but she just refused. My wife broke down in tears and as I politely asked to give me 1 minute to comfort her and give her a hug, this too was refused because I already ‘visited her for 3 hours’ and visiting hours were over. As said, total lack of empathy, mistaking ‘nervously waiting for the decision’ with visiting and not being capable of understanding the impact that a - In my opinion completely incorrect - decision has on another human being. I normally don’t like complaining online, but the dr was simply refusing any reasonable debate. What started as a positive experience ended in a horrific experience.