Right to Respond

As part of our commitment to providing an honest and transparent view of health and social care services, Healthwatch Birmingham & Solihull 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

Heartlands Hospital


A system that wastes time and money

I attended A&E at Heartlands Hospital and was quickly sent to SAU where I had an ultrasound. I was then told to come back to SAU the following day. I attended the next day to be told that there was a 4 to 6 hour wait to be seen. I waited 3 hours to be told that the ultrasound I'd had done the day before was all clear and that I could go. Living in Solihull it is very difficult to get to Heartlands Hospital by public transport. It cost me over £60 to attend the hospital over two days. The waiting times are long and a simple telephone call could have told me that the ultrasound was all clear.