This Men’s Health Week, I’m asking men across the country to help us shape the future of their healthcare.
Earlier this week, HuffPost UK published an important article advising readers how they can help men open up about their health, including by taking an empathetic approach and making sure they choose the right moment to broach the subject.
Now, I want to hear from you about how the government can do more to support you to live a longer, healthier life.
In particular, I want to find out how we can better address long-term health conditions including cancer, mental ill health or the after effects of a stroke.
We know that these conditions can disproportionately affect men so I’m calling on HuffPost UK readers to come forward and answer some brief online questions which will help shape the government’s new Major Conditions Strategy. Your opinion could help inform efforts to better prevent, diagnose, treat and manage the six most common major conditions that can strike at any time.
Let’s take heart disease. Men are 15% more likely to develop heart and circulatory disease than women. Too many men are living with undiagnosed high blood pressure, the biggest factor is raising the risk of heart and circulatory disease. It’s also estimated that high blood pressure is three times more likely to be undiagnosed among younger men aged 25-43 than those aged 75+.
It’s therefore really important to get your blood pressure checked – whether in the comfort of your own home, at a high-street pharmacy, or at your GP surgery. Left undiagnosed, it can lead to heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, or even the onset of vascular dementia so we need to do more to prevent things getting that far.
An NHS Health Check can provide advice to men at risk of these conditions, with personalised guidance to help you reduce your risks.
The NHS website tells the story of Ron. He’d never smoked; he rarely drank; he enjoyed playing golf. However, his NHS Health Check results showed he had incredibly high blood pressure – so high it shocked the healthcare professionals treating him.
Because Ron decided to check out his health, he was able to take action and help prevent it leading to anything more sinister like a stroke or heart attack. Since his experience, other men Ron works with have put themselves forward for a health check – it could very well save their lives.
Men are also at higher risk of both developing and dying from cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, and sadly there are tens of thousands of new cases every year.
However, it’s inspiring to see initiatives being taken to beat this disease. The Royal Marsden Hospital, along with its partners, has set up the Man Van, where men can stop by for useful information on prostate cancer, and most importantly, get a free prostate cancer check. The aim of the Man Van is to target groups at high risk of delayed diagnosis, and reduce the number of men diagnosed in A&E.
I’m pleased to say we’ve ensured cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage more often in this country, and survival rates are improving. But we want the UK to lead the way in delivering the next generation of treatments and cures. We need to make sure people are being diagnosed even quicker, improve experiences of cancer treatment, and maximise the impact of research and data.
We’re improving care and outcomes for people by opening over 100 community diagnostic centres across the country, with an ambition to open up to 160 by March 2025, which have already delivered over four million tests, checks, and scans.
While this is all excellent progress, I want to hear your stories. Whether you’ve personally been affected by cancer, or your friend, brother, father, or grandfather has battled the disease, your views on how we can better support those with this awful illness could be invaluable.
As well as physical health, supporting men’s mental health and wellbeing is vital. Men are less likely to access therapy, they reportedly express lower levels of life satisfaction than women, and suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 35.
Those facts and stats are stark. But I’m determined to see change.
To support people’s mental health and wellbeing, we’re increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people can get the support they need.
We have made digital tools available to support mental wellbeing. Our Every Mind Matters website gives people the opportunity to sign up to anxiety-easing emails, offering expert advice to help them stay on top of their mental wellbeing and show them how to make these new steps part of their routine.
And for younger people in particular, we’re integrating mental health services into our education system.
We can always do more – we must do more. That’s what this call for evidence is about. I want to hear from men about their experience of the support on offer, and how it can be improved.
So this Men’s Health Week, take a few minutes to answer some questions on gov.uk and contribute to our Major Conditions Strategy: call for evidence. Your input really could make a difference and help us save lives.
Steve Barclay is the secretary of state for health and social care.