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 Vesey Practice


Disappointed

My brother had heart failure and a stroke in 2017 and since then has been disabled with limited feeling on his left side. About 6 weeks ago he started complaining about constipation and was vomiting up anything he ate and drank. He also said he felt bloated. We called the surgery and he had several telephone consultations with different laxatives being prescribed. 3 weeks ago he was referred for a colonoscopy in august. I wasn’t happy with waiting that long especially as he was feeling severe pain and bloating in his left lower abdomen which he’d reported to the doctor. I took him to A&E and he was admitted and 2 days later had a bowel resection and now has a stoma bag. The growth in his bowel is currently being analysed. He is still in hospital on fluids. I think that if he had actually been physically seen by a doctor they would have checked his stomach and have he would have been treated sooner. Disappointed that no account was taken of his lack of feeling on his left side when reviewing how much pain he was in