Cannabis Health visited Nottingham Road Clinic based in Mansfield as it prepares to launch new medical cannabis treatments.
Nottingham Road Clinic is a private medical facility offering a range of different services. It currently offers healthcare, wellness and cosmetic procedures, but this is the first time the clinic is offering medical cannabis among its existing treatments.
The clinic has a multidisciplinary team on hand to work with patients. The medical cannabis team includes Dr Younus Saleem, a consultant psychiatrist, Mr Srini Vindla, a consultant gynaecologist and Mr Muhammed Laklouk, a consultant in anaesthesia and pain management.
Doctors will be welcoming patients with a wide variety of conditions including chronic pain, endometriosis, ADHD, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Bipolar Disorder. Patients will be able to self-register through the Nottingham Road Clinic to make an appointment.
Although this is a great boost for the city of Nottingham, the development of telemedicine throughout the pandemic means the clinic is accessible to the whole of the UK and Northern Ireland.
Cannabis Health visited the clinic in Mansfield, where we met with the consultants and director of the Nottingham Road Clinic, Dr Clive Gie.Dr Gie is also a consultant gynaecologist.
Medical cannabis and endometriosis
Mr Srini Vindla became interested in medical cannabis as a treatment for endometriosis.
Speaking with Cannabis Health, he said: “I see a lot of women with endometriosis in debilitating pain. There are several different treatments including simple analgesics, paracetamol, hormone treatment or surgery. Surgery, which is the best option for managing pain, has quite big risks in that some organs may get damaged.”
“I started researching cannabis as an alternative. It’s great in terms of pain control and there is evidence in rat studies that it may shrink the tissue growth too. I knew cannabis wasn’t available on the NHS which is why I contacted Clive to see if he would be interested in offering it.”
Dr Younus Saleem will be working with patients who experience PTSD or have conditions such as ADHD or autism. Interestingly, patients may also avail of traditional prescriptions for ADHD such as stimulant-based medications if the doctor feels it may benefit them better than medical cannabis. This will be on an individual basis.
It could not have come at a better time for Nottingham as specially created autism and ADHD services are struggling to cope with the demand and number of patients in the city.
He said: “The services within the NHS, in particular for ADHD is very scarce. We have patients coming from as far away as Aberdeen or Northern Ireland. The story is always the same in that they have been referred but the NHS has a waiting list of anything from one to three years. The services are struggling with the demand.”
Dr Saleem added: “We are on the verge of something happening in the UK and worldwide where the role of medical cannabis for conditions like ADHD will become more prominent. As medical professionals, we like more evidence-based medicine to back our practice but that is possibly in the pipeline. This is a big area that will grow.
“We are very excited to be getting involved in this. Hopefully, with our launch, we will be setting an example.”
Nottingham Road Clinic and GROW
The clinic is also working with cannabis experts, GROW Pharma. GROW is one of the leading medical cannabis importers in the UK and Ireland, which also has its own cannabis production facility.
As well as the pharma side of the company, it recently launched an educational platform that provides training for doctors around medical cannabis.
The educational aspect is one of the reasons why the clinic is delighted to be supported by GROW.
“What I like about GROW is that it is not just a distributor, they also provide education. They are an umbrella organisation with different facets including Pharma and the education side,” Clive said.
“It can be a daunting prospect to get into this industry but they provide seminars and really good educational programmes.”
It hasn’t been the easiest to set up the clinic for medical cannabis prescribing, while following regulatory processes, but those involved have been determined to make it as safe as possible for patients. Covid-19 has also meant a few delays or difficulties but Mr Vindla believes that the pandemic has helped to advance their telemedicine options.
“The fact that we’ve done all of this virtually has been harder but it will work for us in the long run. We have a physical space for those patients who need it. People aren’t afraid of online consultations anymore. The pandemic has shown it works from our end as clinicians but also it’s convenient for patients who can be at home.”
Telemedicine and in-person appointments
This is not the first medical cannabis clinic in Nottingham. The previous clinic no longer offers it as an option following doctors retirement. This has meant lengthy trips to London for Midlands patients and telemedicine is not always an option.
The central Midlands location will allow access for those in Derby, Leeds or Birmingham.
Mr Vindla added: “It takes less than an hour to get here from Leeds and it’s 40 minutes from Birmingham. We’ve got the whole of Lincolnshire nearby too. It’s very conveniently based in the centre of England to attract people. The message is really that cannabis can work which is what the evidence is showing us so let’s get that out there.”
Applying for a medical cannabis consultation could not be easier. Patients can self-refer for an initial consultation before being asked to provide health history notes from their GP. Once they have their consolation, the multi-disciplinary team will discuss if medical cannabis treatment is the best option before writing a prescription. There are further follow up appointments with doctors to check how the prescription is affecting the patient.
The plan is to hire more doctors to join the team however the stigma and lack of information about the plant can make this difficult.
“At the moment, we have three doctors working in pain, pelvic pain and a psychiatrist. We have a few other clinicians interested too and are gradually in the process of hiring more people. Some are slightly hesitant so this is where we are providing them with seminars from GROW and helping them to get their pin numbers and pink prescription pads. There is hesitancy passed on the stigma from both the clinical and patient side which we will work to get over,” Clive said.
“Hiring more people will mean more availability. We want to make sure the patient is never sidelined. The whole thing is aimed at continuity, helping patients to get where they want to. Once they are on a standard proposal then we can change the THC or CBD content depending on what they need, if it’s day or night time for example. Once they are settled then they can carry on with that but they have access to the clinic whenever they need to.”
Pierre van Weperen, CEO of GROW Pharma strongly agrees, “We are delighted to be supporting the specialist doctors at Nottingham Road Clinic. Our mission is to enable access to medical cannabis for patients who could benefit from this treatment option to manage their symptoms, but we do need many more prescribing doctors on board to increase people’s awareness of the benefits of medical cannabis and for the patient’s to be able to access these high-quality medicines in a safe and monitored environment.”
For more information, visit The Nottingham Road Clinic
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