MEN with erectile dysfunction will turn to dangerous online products because the NHS has cut recommended treatment doses, a leading county GP has warned.

Dr David Edwards sounded the warning after doses for drugs like viagra were recommended for a maximum two tablets a month – instead of four – to save cash.

Vacuum pumps and penis implants should be a low priority, Oxfordshire health bosses also said, as part of a bid to cut the annual erectile dysfunction bill from £700,000 to £350,000.

Yet Dr Edwards, president elect of the British Society for Sexual Medicine, said: “My concern is people will go online. It is well known some drugs online are counterfeit.”

Last month the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Government’s medicine regulator, warned of erectile dysfunction products being sold online. It said: “There is a higher risk of buying a poor-quality herbal remedy over the internet.”

The Chipping Norton GP said the ruling by Oxfordshire health bosses went against national NHS guidance that says men aged 40 to 60 have sex once a week so that only one tablet a week would be needed.

He added: “If people are not able to have sex when they want then there could be problems in the relationship and it could lead to divorce.”

Erectile dysfunction can occur because of narrowing blood vessels to the penis and this can be linked to hypertension and diabetes.

NHS Oxfordshire, the primary care trust, said it reviewed treatments to take “account of evidence clinical and cost effectiveness and affordability”.

It added: “Patients should always speak to their GP before considering obtaining treatments or medications privately or on the internet.”

Nationally, about half of men aged 40 to 70 will have some degree of dysfunction, affecting about 50,000 in Oxfordshire.

The PCT said manufacturers did not recommend tablets be broken up and were worried people take an “inappropriate dose”. Its priorities committee recommended two tablet doses of sildenafil (viagra), vardenafil or tadalafil “on the grounds of affordability”. They cost the NHS £16.59 to £53.98.

The recommendation was ratified by the South Central Priorities Committee, comprised of clinicians from Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

Yet the policy, which started in May, said vacuum devices and penile implants should be a low priority because of “limited evidence”. Pumps and constrictor rings have been paid for by NHS Oxfordshire, it said, but could not provide figures to meet The Oxford Mail’s deadline.

The committee last month said costly IVF should be a low priority, as its absence did not damage lives enough. No final decision has been taken.