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 Harlequin Surgery


Pretty good (if you can get an appointment!)

I was having a mental crisis and my wife rang to get an appointment. The receptionist was told how I wasn't coping but insisted there were no appointments left. Luckily, my wife is extremely persistent and would not be fobbed off and eventually after 5 minutes explaining how serious the situation was, I was given an emergency appointment. The consultation was very good and very helpful. I have been a patient with this practice for well over 30 years but it feels like they have taken on too many new patients and now cannot offer the service which we are all entitled to. This morning I tried to book a telephone consultation to discuss my diabetes (which I have been asked to do by a doctor via an SMS message) and despite ringing at exactly 8:30am as I was advised to do yesterday by a receptionist, I simply got a recorded message saying that due to the volume of calls waiting to be dealt with I could not join the queue...try again later. I tried 6 times and got the same message. Eventually at 9:15 I got through to reception to be told that all of the appointments had gone for today. Try again tomorrow. I won't bother because I know it will be exactly the same again. This is worrying because I am pretty sure the doctor will tell me that my last blood tests showed that I am now classed as "diabetic" and require medication. I assume that at some point the doctor will follow it up by telephoning me and then hopefully I will be able to get the medication I need. NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!