Conditions covered by current rules

Diabetes Multiple sclerosis Parkinson's Disease Poliomyelitis Prostate cancer Prostatectomy Radical pelvic surgery Renal failure treated by dialysis or transplant Severe pelvic injury Single gene neurological disease Spinal cord injury Spina bifida

A Department of Health consultation on who should be prescribed ED treatment ends on February 5.

Viagra impact

When Viagra was launched in the UK in 1998, the Impotence Association says hysteria in the press led to politicians believing GP surgeries would be inundated with patients wanting the drug.

They put the drug, along with other ED treatments such as vacuum pumps on a restricted list.

That, according to Impotence Association director Ann Craig, means many men who need treatment cannot get it.

She said men were also deterred from visiting their GP because they do not think they will get treatment.

This could be important as impotence can be an early sign of conditions such as cardiovascular disease.

"It is critical that the Department of Health understands that there would be broader benefits to the nation's health priorities, such as cardiovascular disease, if the restrictions were to be relaxed."

"Men with erection problems caused by high blood pressure or depression are often in a low-income group but currently do not qualify for NHS treatment.

"However cardiovascular disease and mental ill-health are at the top of the government's health agenda."

In the year between June 1999 and July 2000, the NHS spent around �19m, excluding treatments dispensed in hospitals

The Impotence Association carried out a survey of 800 patients with ED.

It found:

• 98% thought treating ED on the NHS was "important
• 91% thought it was unfair that diabetics could receive treatment, but those with heart disease could not
• 97% thought couples unable to have sex because of ED should be able to get help on the NHS
• 55% had trouble obtaining NHS treatment because doctors were confused about the guidelines

'Inequalities'

The Men's Health Forum is backing the Impotence Association's calls for the restrictions on treatment to be loosened.

Dr Ian Banks, a GP and chairman of the forum, said: "The greatest issue here is one of inequality where those men most likely to suffer from impotence are paradoxically those least likely to be able to afford to pay for treatment."

A survey of GPs carried out by the Men's Health Forum last year found, on average, a family doctor diagnoses just two cases of ED each month.

Three-quarters of those surveyed felt they, rather than the Department of Health, should decide which patients received treatment.

Eighty-nine per cent agreed that ED could be a marker for undetected cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and was an important consideration for managing those patients.

Sixty-nine per cent said it was unfair patients with cardiovascular disease or depression were not eligible for ED treatment on the NHS, while those with diabetes are.

Two thirds would like to see ED treatments extended to patients with heart disease and depression.