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

Birmingham Women\'s Hospital


Ridiculous fight for advice

The breastfeeding advice I received for my first child was abysmal and by that I mean that I received none at all for over two days and then, when I did receive advice, it was only a short-term fix. I wanted to breastfeed and brought no formula to the hospital. I did bring some expressed colostrum. My son was born via emergency caesarean, so I was struggling mentally, emotionally, and physically in ways I never anticipated after giving birth. Someone saw him latch and assumed that he was feeding well. Later, I couldn't get him to feed. Instead of helping me learn to feed my baby, hospital staff gave me a giant pumping machine and left me to it. I was sore and anxious after emergency surgery and soon had sore boobs from using incorrectly sized phalanges. I was leaking out colostrum to feed my baby with a syringe and no one told me I should do anything differently. I carried on for two days and finally asked a student midwife why I hadn't yet be discharged. She said that no one had seen me feed my baby. I was irate. Up until then, no one had even hinted that I couldn't be discharged soon, and no one had offered help. I demanded (probably none too politely) to see someone who could help me learn to feed. Finally, a breastfeeding consultant came and gave me a nipple guard. My nipples were large and flat, so this helped. I was told to use it as long as I needed. Finally, I was discharged. For a week, breastfeeding was awful. My boobs were sore and my nipples were chapped. The nipple guard helped my baby to latch, but it was not improving my pain. I got free help online from La Leche League. I was told to ditch the nipple guard ASAP so my son didn't become dependent on it. After a couple of painful days, our breastfeeding drastically improved and it was a breeze for the next 20 months until we stopped. I breastfeed my second with no trouble, and much less trauma, but I never had to ask for advice the second time. I've warned every pregnant woman I know to demand breastfeeding advice ASAP and to not take no for an answer. It's ridiculous to have to fight for such basic advice.