MANY family doctors in the York area could revolt against Government restrictions on prescribing Viagra - at least until it is made illegal for them to do so.

York GP and spokesman for the British Medical Association, Dr Tony Sweeney, said many doctors were likely to be "sympathetic" towards requests for the drug.

He said some doctors were particularly angered that restrictions had been brought in on treatment of impotence problems only after an effective and acceptable treatment had been found.

Under new guidelines, Health Secretary Frank Dobson told doctors they could prescribe Viagra on the NHS for limited groups only - men who had had prostate or pelvic surgery, and those with spinal injuries, diabetes, multiple sclerosis or single-gene neurological disease.

Men whose impotence was causing them "severe distress" would also be eligible for Viagra on the NHS - but only after a specialist assessment at a hospital.

The BMA said the new guidelines were "cruel, unethical and unworkable" and issued its own advice to doctors, telling them to prescribe Viagra for anyone in clinical need.

Dr Sweeney, a GP at the Tang Hall Lane surgery in York, said the rule about only prescribing to men in "severe distress" made no sense.

And he told the Evening Press: "I suspect most doctors will be sympathetic and will want to give treatment rather than not until there is a legal ban."

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