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

MW Phillips Chemist


Dreadful telephone conversation

My mother receives her blister pack medication from MW Phillips and this is an excellent service. However my recent contact by telephone with the pharmacy left a lot to be desired and I could only describe the person I spoke to as having had an empathy bypass. My mum is now living with me on palliative care and is very ill, the doctor prescribed some medication on 22 October that my mum needed. This had not arrived after a week so I visited the doctor to be told that the prescription had been sent to MW Phillips. I contacted MW Phillips and this is were I was dealt with in a very inappropriate manner and with a total lack of care or understanding by the person on the phone. Apparently the pharmacy has tried to deliver but it was a 'fail to deliver' and a note was left. The medication had been at their pharmacy for a week. I explained that obviously the pharmacy had tried to deliver to my mums address but she is living with me, again it was repeated 'fail to deliver, it's your responsibility'. I reiterated that I had visited my mums home and there was no note from the pharmacy regarding 'failed to deliver'. The person on the phone was adamant that I should have chased this up, which is probably correct, but dealing with a range of medical professionals and my very sick mother on a daily basis it has been difficult to chase everything. The person on the phone showed no compassion and I really think there is a training issue for the company, the way I was spoken to was totally inappropriate. I agreed , under duress, to go and pick up the medication even though it was a twenty minute drive and I would need to leave my mum alone for forty minutes. The main receptionist handed me the medication, I asked to speak to a manager but there was not a manager present, I asked for a managers email address at which point the receptionist took the medication from me and left the room. She returned with a generic email address which I believe was given to her by the person I spoke to on the phone, no doubt the communication will go direct to her. I feel emotionally traumatised by the way I was dealt with and feel that some work should be done to make people working at MW Phillips realise that the people they are dealing with vulnerable people who require care and compassion.