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

The Dove Medical Practice


Cancelled appt as 9 minutes late due to snow

My daughter was 9 minutes late for a blood test today due to the terrible travel conditions because of the snow/ice & was refused her appointment as the receptionist explained "the nurse only has 5 minute patient slots & if you are more than 5 minutes late you are cancelled." The weather has been atrocious today & we were genuinely late because we had to drive so slowly due to the icy roads. However, this did not matter. Even when I explained my daughter's blood test was because she was on blood thinners due to a blood clot in her lung and needed her bloods checked, we were simply offered a link to a possible afternoon phone call with the doctor. This was at 8.42 am the place was empty, except for one person in the whole of the surgery. There were more reception staff than patients & I imagine the nurse today was very bored too, as no doubt lots of appointments cancelled, because they were slightly late. It was a complete waste of time & NHS resources. Luckily, I drove my daughter, but imagine if this was an elderly or disabled person who had to rely on an Uber today and was cancelled but still needed to pay travel costs? I agree that lateness is terrible & should be avoided at all cost, but a little lenience today would have been well received, considering the inclement weather, especially first thing this morning. Now she has to wait a whole week for the blood test, which we was informed by the receptionist, was doing us a favor it could be December !!!