Winehouse clinic offers free rehab to stressed doctors

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."