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

University Medical Practice


Mental health support

I was diagnosed with depression at the age of 21 and immediately prescribed antidepressants. 3 GPs over the course of a year prescribed antidepressants without informing first about psychotherapy. Since medication did not get to the root of problem I was left for years not knowing what psychotherapy was. If the waiting lists for psychotherapy were too long, they should have provided me the the correct advice and strongly advised me to seek a professional Psychotherapist privately. I understand GPs have 10 minutes per patient and do not have sufficient time and psychotherapy skills To assess patients. But they should be giving the general public the correct advice. I get the impression the had a knowledge deficit about dealing with depression and anxiety. The first doctor claimed that prescribing prozac in America was very common and had no problem with prescribed this medication to me in England even though it has side effects.