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

Royal Orthopaedic Hospital


Problems getting through to secretaries

I have been coming to this hospital for various orthopaedic problems including my hips, spine and hands for several years. This is an excellent hospital in terms of the care you will receive, the doctors, nurses, imaging and physios are second to none. The only trouble is getting through to the secretaries and admin staff for updates when you are on a waiting list or need to ask the consultant a question. People are unavailable, or covering for someone off sick and have to check, and then don't ring you back. It is a circus of being pushed and pulled from pillar to post and usually you don't find out whatever it is you wanted to know about. With a few notable exceptions, they come across as unhelpful or clueless. Once you get past that stage and have your treatment there are no complaints! The other issue is the waiting lists, there is routinely over a year for first consultation but I guess that is just normal nowadays and not really worth commenting on.