The OAD Clinic

I engaged with OAD at the beginning of the year for their Buvidal treatment after struggling with class A drugs for over 20years. Looking back now I was doing it more to appease my long suffering parents rather than a serious attempt to finally stop as I was incredulous about how successful it would be. You see, I have done it all before and bought the T-shirt, to no avail! However, as soon as sat down with the doctor, I could sense it would be different this time. And as for the amazing young lady who was there from the first enquiry call I made to the last email she sent to my local agency so I can carry on what OAD started with my state funded clinic - she truly has been so diligent I feel guilty for not having got her a present! ( I hope this review will suffice ) It is now April and I have been free from opiates for 4 months! That is longest period of abstinence for me in the last 20yrs. At the risk of sounding like a cliche- it has literally changed my life! You could even go as far as saying it saved my life when you take into account the fact that last year I spent 5 weeks in the hospital with a ‘staf’ infection that I contracted from a dirty needle. For anyone who is serious about stopping and doesn’t have the extortionate amounts of money that some clinics ask for, OAD is not only the best choice but is also the logical one! And as a bonus you still get all trappings of what you’d expect from a private clinic in Chelsea i.e beautiful offices and classy ladies :-) but seriously guys; life’s too short to be waking up every day with withdrawals because by the time you fix yourself up there’s not much time to do anything else!! Just go and talk to the doctor and then you’ll see what I mean! Thanks OAD - everything positive that I do from now on can be traced back to you!

Outstanding. Clinic has a long & distinguished history of treating patients as individuals -- and doing everything possible to help them to get on with living their lives. Miles better than any other service I've ever received. Well run, efficient, and staffed by kind, experienced, empathetic staff who go the extra mile, notably Andy, Soraia, Oscar. They do vital work here.

I have met people here with a deep understanding of the issues that I and those like me face. I was fortunate in finding the Stapleford , now OAD Clinic. Now signing off, after a decade, John

Without the help of this clinic over the past few years I don't know where I would be. I can't recommend them highly enough. Regards Simon

The OAD clinic is a breath of fresh air in the way these places used to be run. The staff are consulate proffesionals with the right level of care and support, giving patients the ability to really tackle their own demons without undue coddling and supporting them when needed and allowing them to heal at their own pace. There is no over prescribing which I experienced at other clinics and the staff are really helpful and concerned in a non patronising way. I would recommend the OAD as the best of its kind anywhere for serious proffesionals with a problem that needs medical intervention. Ken Muir

Was promised that my disorders would be assisted with and they have gone against all of the propositions offered to me before I was charged. I am now in a position which has made my life difficult and distresssing. Extremely unhappy.

The staff here are amazing. In my cases anyway, they've been patient, kind, helpfulon and most importantly non judgemental whilst going through what can only describe as a trying period. They are one of the only clinics offering buprenorphine via injection which has been such a life saver for me and helped immensely and far more than oral method would've done. Saved /saving my life and highly recommended of looking for help to overcome any problems may have. Thanks guys

From the start I felt like I was in the right place and in the correct hands. This was one of the key things, amongst all the others, that helped me turn my life around. Ill forever be thankful.

It helped me 100% It kept me out of trouble back to normal. Thank you very much OAD team.

Excellent clinic- attentive staff, supportive and knowledgeable. Would highly recommend!

Service is very good and also doctor gives u best treatment thats y i go there.

WOW, this place has changed! Juliet A (below) has explained it better than I could and I totally agree with her comment. This is "Now" a completely different place, with a totally different attitude toward the maintenance and care Addicts... Money talks! I was under the care of this Clinc when it sadly changed hands, i was both worried and shocked by the completely different attitude i faced during my 1st phone call to the now, OAD clinic. I don't wish to go into more detail and hope that my star rating is enough for this review to be published as I could have taken the low road and used just one word in my review of the OAD. I owe my life to Doctor Tovey, and previously to Dr Brewer, such kind, understanding, and pleasant Gentlemen, who I greatly miss. Without their help and support over the many years, I would without doubt be in Prison or dead. I'm very happy to say, I'm now clean and i have been for about a year now. I obviosly don't miss addiction, that and being labelled as a "Smack Head" when I go out by a few of the understanding ???? locals of Plymstock, Plymouth, is what keeps me going. Luckily, and to the best of my knowledge, I never had to do anything naughty to fund my habit, and im sure that they would have a different opinion if they knew the reasons why I was so desperate to escape reality, just ask me, I'm an open book with NOTHING to hide and proud of what I've done. I'm new to this particular part of Plymouth as I want to avoid Dealers etc, and as I know how gossip spreads among inquisitive people, I felt quite proud to tell a couple of them (who for reasons i won't go into seemed, on the level) that I'm 12 months clean. I will end here as i know that this is supposed to be purely a review of the OAD Clinic, but I wanted to thank Dr Tovey (&Staff), Dr Brewer, and to try to make others aware that many Addicts have a backstory. Of course I wanted to leave a review of the OAD as well! Thank you, Duncan Harris ????.

Would give one star but the standard of care both in the NHS and in the lucrative rehab industry of which this clinic forms part is so low that by comparison, there are significantly worse places. Recently attended here for 6 months for serious alcohol & cannabis problems, chronic anxiety depression and dependency on opioid analgesics after prolonged use of pain medication for injuries sustained in a bad car accident. This used to be called the Stapleford Clinic and for decades that organisation fought a brave battle against many hostile foes, primarily government bodies, for its radical, forward thinking treatment policies, which is why I chose this place. However, in the last few months the final member of those courageous pioneers retired and this clinic (at one point calling itself "The Belgravia Clinic") has been taken over by a private healthcare company named Seagrave Healthcare. It now therefore is making everyone do exactly what government policies dictate (policies aimed at crime reduction with little or no interest in progress curing or researching how to cure addiction). Renamed, this new entity is now aiming itself fairly & squarely at wealthy addicts, emphasising its location in Belgravia, despite the fact that this is purely historical & dates from many decades ago when the area around Victoria station was not so posh, nor so expensive. After the initial signing up and titrating phase, the standard treatment costs £160 per calendar month for which you will get to see an addiction worker (someone with no medical training) once during the month for 30 minutes and a doctor every 3-4 months for 30 minutes, and I predict that price is likely to rise, once the new management have got rid of lots of their old patients & signed up new, wealthier ones. In addition to the lack of any attempt at allocating time for psychological support, the admin side is incompetent, inefficient, unfriendly & short staffed to the point where you feel lucky when they get things right, and you will need to be constantly on your guard for mistakes with prescriptions, appointment times, overcharging - anything at all. These mistakes on at least two occasions were very serious, rather than simply inconvenient. Expect to be kept waiting a very long time - bring plenty of reading material. Although they are now super keen on their own paperwork being in order, as a patient you'll be lucky to receive anything in writing about what to expect from your treatment or for your money. The clinic is now 100 per cent focussed on towing the line & making money, which they have convinced themselves is "modernisation and dragging this place into the 21st Century". Don't expect them to have time to listen to your very individual or unique problems, they just dole out prescriptions and push to get you to fit with treatment outcome figures & prescribing protocols that will look good to the powers that be. It's difficult to get through on the phone & they close for lunch between 1-2pm. There is no out of hours or emergency service, which is why you need to be super careful to check everything's in order before walking out of the door. If they are posting a prescription check every single detail over the phone before they finish their short working day. I must emphasise that the rest of the rapidly expanding rehab industry, of which I have extensive personal experience, is solely motivated by money whatever the people working in it may have come to believe, so you may not do much better elsewhere, although other places are sometimes more efficient/reliable and frequently offer more in the way of counselling, but may be even more expensive. There are also plenty of individual private doctors charging many hundreds of pounds for a single 50 minute appointment. So, in conclusion, fairly shocking, but then my experience is that standards of care for addiction (outside of AA/NA - if you can stomach the religion) are abysmally low. Even if you're forking out £10,000 a week to stay in the Priory, there is little understanding of the real causes of addiction.