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Winehouse clinic offers free rehab to stressed doctors
Sophie Goodchild, Health Editor10.12.08
THE London clinic which treated singer Amy Winehouse is offering a free rehab service to doctors and dentists, the Standard can reveal today.
The Capio Nightingale Hospital near Harley Street will open its doors to doctors suffering from work-related stress and depression as well as drink and drug problems.
Winehouse, 25, checked into the clinic in January this year to receive treatment for crack, heroin and Valium addictions.
The confidential service is being funded by the Department of Health amid concerns that increasing numbers of doctors are self-medicating with alcohol or drugs.
Many fear huge stigma if they seek professional help, despite the fact that mental illness and addiction can seriously affect their ability to work.
Doctors at the centre are expecting to handle up to 500 inquiries a year, mainly from GPs, who will be offered inpatient and outpatient care.
The Capio Nightingale is one of a list of clinics which have been appointed to offer free treatment for the next two years.
Others include the Maudsley in Camberwell, those run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust, and Clouds in Wiltshire, where singer Pete Doherty was treated. There will also be a walk-in service at a clinic in Vauxhall. The support service has been set up by the National Patient Safety Agency and the London Specialised Commissioning Group.
Dr Clare Gerada, who is overseeing the service, said it will also offer support to dentists and their families.
Dr Gerada, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "There's a tendency for doctors and dentists to manage their own health concerns, to self-medicate. For this reason health concerns sometimes go unreported or unrecognised."
She said the new service would help to stop this.
Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the programme is a "major step" towards improving the care of medical staff.
Martin Thomas, chief executive of the Capio Nightingale Hospitals Group, said: "It's got to the stage where there are many doctors who have higher rates of mental disorder than we recognised. But doctors tend to speak to colleagues or self-medicate. The danger is that these problems are kept under the table."
Reader views (4)
I have a friend who's a Dentist in the City, he borrowed £250000 to buy the practice in January, and now sits there doing nothing because all of his patients (who work in Banks) are scared of losing their jobs by taking time off to see the dentist. My friend is now completely bankrupt, his wife who had a baby 7 months ago is going mad with depression and they are going to have bailiffs come to their house next week to start repossessions. They will probably have their property reposessed as well.
A sad story I know, but not every Doctor and Dentist is loaded, and there are many good, honest healthcare workers who need help badly, but cannot afford it, or cannot take time off work to attend NHS centres.
If depressed Doctors and Dentists are given help, then they will in turn be able to help other members of the public with their healthcare needs, so everyone wins!
- Sue, London
well this is really good initiative for doctors.
- Doctors Excuses, United States
"shame the rest of us in the private sector aren't afforded the same level of care"
Why do you have to be in the private sector anyway ? Most British people choose not to be. What is wrong with that?
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Oh well it's good that doctors are being looked after, shame the rest of us in the private sector aren't afforded the same level of care, but then we're not public servants.
- Martin, Reading, UK
