It’s increasingly common for patients to post online reviews of their experiences in clinic. But while most of your reviews will no doubt be positive, you might (very occasionally) receive a less than flattering one.

So what you should do? Here are a few tips:

• Check they’re a genuine patient, and kindly inform them if they’ve confused you with someone else
• Respond promptly, ideally within 48-72 hours (if not sooner)
• Don’t address them by their name if they haven’t made it public
• Thank them for the feedback and apologise if something has gone wrong
• Be authentic and genuine
• Take the conversation offline
• Attempt to resolve the issue

To illustrate, here are two examples of how to respond to a negative review. One shows a good reply and the other is… not so good.