I need to amend my response - what should I do?

There may be an occasion where you notice an error in your published response, or you want to amend the information you've given.

The majority of responses are moderated by our team before publication, and we will correct anything obvious, like simple spelling mistakes. However, there may be other reasons why you need to amend your response.

The common amendments/errors we are contacted about are:

• Spelling of names
• Incorrect contact person named
• Update named contact or provide new contact details
• Incorrect contact details given e.g. phone number or email address

In most of these cases, staff will ask us to amend their response. However this is often not best practice, and here's why!

Only specific actions on Care Opinion will trigger email alerts to staff and authors. As you can see below, amendments to responses made by our team, don't trigger an email alert to the author.

Why is this an issue?

If you need to communicate an amendment of important information, then you want to make sure that the author is notified. The only way to do this is to write another response, with the new information. 

If the author isn't notified, then they may be unaware of the updated details you've provided. This could lead to them becoming frustrated, especially if they have been trying to get in touch unsuccessfully! 

So our advice here is to submit another response to ensure that the author is notified. If you made a mistake, be upfront about it. We're all human, and authors will value your honesty and being kept up to date.

Here's what happens when you submit a new response:

In conclusion, to ensure that authors are promptly notified of important updates or corrections, it's best to submit a new response rather than amending the original. This approach maintains clear communication, prevents frustration, and demonstrates honesty and transparency - all of which are key to responding well!

For further support with responding please head over to our 'subscriber know how' pages, you can find them here.