NHS prescribes sex twice a month

The South Central Priorities Committee, a panel of NHS managers covering Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, told doctors there should be a twice-monthly limit on the drugs.

This is despite NHS guidance saying there “appears to be no clinical reason to restrict the number of tablets” of Viagra prescribed to an individual.

It does note, however, that research suggests that people in the 40 to 60 age range only have sex once a week.

GPs are urged to apply the two-tablet limit to prescriptions for the erectile dysfunction drugs sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra) and tadalafil (Cialis).

Erectile dysfunction drugs are already restricted on the NHS to people suffering from diabetes, prostate cancer, spinal injury, Parkinson’s disease, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis and polio.

Dr Paul Roblin, representing GP medical committees in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, said the guidance was “getting in the way of GPs having a sensible dialogue with patients about their requirements”.