Men in Oxfordshire who want to spice up their love lives should head north.
New Department of Health figures show that men in St Helen's, Lancashire, are three times as likely to be prescribed the impotence drug Viagra than those in Oxfordshire.
GPs in the county spend £385 per 1,000 male adults on Viagra compared to more than £1,000 spent in St Helen's and Knowsley. Health professionals did not think the figures necessarily proved that men in St Helen's were more likely to be impotent then their peers in the south.
Factors such as the average age of men in the area and spending policies of different health authorities contributed to the result.
Ann Craig, the director of the Impotence Association, said: "You have one health authority that is telling its GPs they can prescribe drugs to help men with erectile dysfunction, while in another doctors may be banned from prescribing drugs for impotence."
Story date: Monday 19 April
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