NHS doctors are wasting thousands of pounds by prescribing Viagra to patients who do not need it, an MP has warned.

Patients with diabetes claim they are being given the drug even if they don't have erectile dysfunction.

Tory MP David Davies accused the Welsh NHS of wasting public money by giving out Viagra ‘like sweets’.

But the Welsh Government has hit back at the conservative politician claiming this is not true.

Mr Davies said: ‘I am fully in favour of prescribing it to people with conditions like diabetes if they have a problem.

‘But I am not in favour of handing out Viagra to patients who do not need it.

‘Not everyone with diabetes has erectile dysfunction and handing out Viagra tablets like sweets is no more than a waste of public money.’

Mr Davies, MP for Monmouth, South Wales, claims a diabetic man wrote to him to say he was given Viagra even though he has no problems with erectile dysfunction.

The patient claimed he was told it is NHS Wales guidance to issue the drug to all diabetics - even though erectile dysfunction affects only 20 to 40 per cent of people with the condition.

Mr Davies added: ‘A resident of Wales who is not a constituent of mine contacted me to tell me that he had been prescribed Viagra because he is a diabetic.

‘He told me he does not suffer from erectile dysfunction, but decided to take up the GP's offer to prescribe Viagra, which is an expensive drug to buy over the counter, to find out what it was like.

‘It seems that in Wales you can have free prescriptions, free parking in hospital car parks and free Viagra, but you'll have to wait twice as long for an operation as someone in England.’

Mr Davies is calling for a change from a regionalised health service to a fully national one.

He wants the Welsh NHS - recently hit by a series of scandals over hospital waiting times - to have its powers returned to the government.
Mr Davies says diabetes patients in Wales are being given Viagra even if they do not have erectile dysfunction

Mr Davies says diabetes patients in Wales are being given Viagra even if they do not have erectile dysfunction

A Welsh Government source said: ‘This is another cock and bull story from David Davies.

‘What he's saying is simply not true.’

Sexual dysfunction is more common in people with diabetes than in other people because the condition can cause damage to the blood vessels and the nervous system causing reduced blood flow and loss of sensation in the sexual organs.

Other problems associated with diabetes - such as heart disease and depression - can also increase the chance of developing erectile dysfunction.