A new NHS pamphlet encouraging pensioners to rev up their sex lives with Viagra and dating agencies has been criticised as a waste of public funds. The 60-page booklet cost £13,700 and has been distributed to older people in the Medway area of Kent.
As well as informing women that sex boosts oestrogen and so can prevent heart disease and osteoporosis, it also advised that they could improve their bladder control as regular sessions in the bedroom would strengthen pelvic floor muscles.
The booklet advises the older generation about the benefits of the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra, which is often used by more elderly men to restore their ability to achieve an erection, which decreases with age. It is believed that 50% of men over 40 will experience the problem at some point. It also warns that everyone who is sexually active – regardless of their age – needs to get regular sexual health check-ups.
The Tax Payers Alliance, which monitors use of tax-payers money, have lambasted the booklet as an “obscene” waste of money, suggesting that it could be viewed as an interference with people’s private lives and that the money could have been spent on operations.
However Tricia Butt, development manager at Medway Older Persons Partnership, who supported its publication, has rejected the criticisms. She pointed out that old age didn’t mean the end of “libidinal energy” and said that if it helped people, then it could not be called a waste of money.