HEROIN GP OFFERS THERAPY TO ADDICTS

DR CLIVE FROGGATT, an architect of the Thatcher government's "free-market"
NHS reforms, who fell from grace when he was convicted of drugs offences,
is drawing on the therapy he underwent for his heroin addiction to counsel
others.

Leaflets offering troubled people "help and advice from someone who will
listen" are being distributed to households in Dr Froggatt's home town of
Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire.

Dr Froggatt, 50, worked as a GP for 20 years before being suspended from
medical registration in 1994 for faking prescriptions to feed his heroin
habit. His suspended one-year jail sentence also cost him his privileged
role as medical guru to a succession of former Health Secretaries including
Kenneth Clarke, Virginia Bottomley and William Waldegrave.

Now, "clean" and with time on his hands after being made redundant as a PR
officer at a clinic for addicts, Dr Froggatt is trying to put the
counselling he received to good use.

Speaking from the local cricket club, where he was watching Gloucestershire
play Sussex, Dr Froggatt said he was a "seriously recovered addict" with
valuable experience to offer others.

"I have a huge professional and personal experience of counselling. I have
been through various programmes and have a widely based knowledge and
experience on which to offer my services. I have been there, done that, and
I have coped. I now want to give something back."

The former Secretary of the Conservative Medical Society and Health Reform
Group, once described as the "most politically powerful GP in the country",
had his first "hit" of heroin in 1991.

He has said that he took the drugs in a moment of madness, when he felt
unable to cope with personal, professional and political pressures.

By the time of his arrest in 1994, Dr Froggatt was taking between 66 and
160 milligrams of heroin a day, which he obtained using prescriptions in
the names of dead or terminally ill patients.

Although he was not sent to prison, Dr Froggatt spent two years in
counselling, six months of which was residential. "It is a horrendous
experience, but you have to turn it round and make something good come out
of it," he said.

Dr Froggatt admits he does not have any specific counselling
qualifications. "I did child psychiatry for half of my professional career
and dealt with family traumas and children's problems.

"I have never made any inflated claims about what I can achieve and offer,"
he said.

But he believes that the hours he spent sitting on various counsellors'
couches make up for the absence of any relevant letters after his name.
"Everyone knows what happened to me. I have experienced a lot of shame and
anger. People can come to see me without feeling they are the pits. They
know I've been there too."

And at no point does he try to mislead his potential patients. Printed in
bold on the leaflets being delivered by the Royal Mail, he says: "Life is
never simple and my own personal problems led me into drug addiction which
nearly destroyed my life and my family. Since 1994 I have undergone a long
period of therapy for the addiction, from which I have now recovered.
Although I was able to help many people beforehand, now I have a much
better understanding of hard times and how to deal with them."

Dr Froggatt has been heartened by the response to his leaflets. Calls have
been predominantly from well-wishers in Cheltenham, who have said "some
very complimentary things". But a number of people interested in his
counselling services have also telephoned. "The clients are beginning to
come. It is very heartening. We're talking single figures at the moment."

Appointments are casual and relaxed. Dr Froggatt is very accommodating when
it comes to setting them up. "I've got an office and see people at home, or
go to their houses. It's up to them." The cost of a session is also up to
them, he says. "Everyone has to pay as a matter of principle, but they pay
according to their own personal means."

He says that his counselling talents lie not only with drugs therapy, but
also with a range of other problems. His clients, to date, have been very
varied - from an elderly person suffering depression to a middle-aged man
coming to terms with a bereavement. Inevitably, Dr Froggatt has also been
approached by drug-users seeking help.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)