Viagra sales soar in Islington

Sex is more dependent on Viagra in the north of our city than it is in any other part of Britain, new figures reveal.

Residents of Camden and Islington are signing up for the little blue pills in record numbers.

Kim Cattrall, the Liverpool-born Sex And The City star, said she and husband Mark Levinson had used Viagra to spice up their love life.

And according to statistics from the Department of Health and Pfizer, Viagra's maker, north Londoners are following Cattrall's lead. More prescriptions for the impotence treatment are being written in the area than in any other part of Britain.

Experts say north London may be the country's Viagra capital because the area is more enlightened about impotence - and its men are more likely to demand treatment, either on the NHS or privately.

The rest of the capital also ranks high in sales of the famous diamond-shaped blue pills compared with the rest of the country, with other parts of London also in the top 10 areas.

Ayrshire in south-west Scotland has the lowest sales of Viagra in the UK.

In the competitive world of impotence, Pfizer is reluctant to release sales figures for its top-selling brand, but said north London topped its nationwide table, which includes both NHS and private prescriptions.

Separate statistics from the Department of Health show Camden and Islington Health Authority spends more on Viagra per 1,000 of its population than any other in Britain.

Viagra costs around £5 per tablet on the NHS. Health Department guidelines restrict men to one tablet per week (at a cost of £260 per man per year) on the NHS. Camden and Islington spends an annual £1,946 per 1,000 men on Viagra, compared with £936 per 1,000 in Northamptonshire, £935 in Sheffield and £971 in South Cheshire.

So around seven men per 1,000 in Camden and Islington are receiving Viagra, compared with three per 1,000 in Northamptonshire. Kensington and Chelsea Health Authority spends £1,331 per 1,000 per men, enough for five to have Viagra. Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham spends £1,746 (six) and East London and the City £1,565.

Camden and Islington Health Authority said no one was available to comment on the findings.

Viagra costs the NHS £25million a year in prescriptions. But only men with one of 14 specified conditions, such as diabetes, are eligible for the drug on the NHS. Campaigners say the strict rationing of all treatments means only 17 per cent of the two million men who suffer from impotence in the UK are eligible for help on the NHS.

Apart from those being treated on the NHS, many men are paying up to £10 a tablet for private prescriptions for Viagra - or buying supplies of the drug over the internet.

Ann Taylor, director of the Impotence Association, said: "There are still wide variations in access to impotence treatments in this country. We know from calls to our helplines that some men find their doctors are refusing to prescribe Viagra or other treatments to them.

"But Camden and Islington have been very proactive since restrictions were introduced a few years ago. They produced a leaflet telling doctors and patients about erectile dysfunction [impotence] and treatments, and maybe helped to dispel some of the taboo around the condition. The area also has very good health services which may encourage men to seek treatment. It has a number of sexual health clinics and drop-in centres, whereas Liverpool has just one erectile dysfunction clinic in the whole city."

Sales of the tablets in the UK could also soar in the next few months if the Medicines Control Agency gives the go-ahead for the drug to be sold over the counter.

At the moment, Viagra can only be obtained with a prescription. But the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has recommended that it could be sold by chemists.