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

The Vesey Practice


I am appalled at the telephone service

Every time my mother rings- to get an appointment, repeat prescription- there are anything from 25-46 callers ahead in the queue. I called 111 this morning because she couldn't get through. They took all her details and symptoms and said she needed to speak to her surgery within the hour. So I have just called on her behalf because she is feeling ill and had to wait 25 minutes to speak to a receptionist to get an appointment. She is 87 and gets very stressed by this and mostly gives up and has to walk to the surgery - about a mile- to get an appointment. My mother had an appt at Four Oaks for an INR test this morning and when I rang to cancel there were 46 callers ahead of me. The cost to patients in terms of time and money is unacceptable.