On Thursday last week, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Ashley Dalton, announced in a written ministerial statement that the UK Government has published a call for evidence to support the development of England’s first Men’s Health Strategy.
The call for evidence will last 12 weeks, until 17th July 2025, and is seeking the views of the public, as well as health and social care professionals, academics, employers and stakeholder organisations to help inform a Men’s Health Strategy for England. The call for evidence includes questions on topics that the Men’s Health Strategy should cover, health literacy, education and training, health behaviours, health conditions affecting men, health and work, men’s engagement with healthcare services and men’s experience of healthcare services. The strategy is scheduled to be published at the end of this year.
This strategy is part of the UK Government’s ambitious programme to reform the NHS with a mission of achieving an NHS that is there when people need it, fewer lives lost to the biggest killers, halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions, and a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer. The Men’s Health Strategy for England will help to ensure that all men get the support they need to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.
Men face unique challenges throughout their lives and are disproportionately affected by a range of health conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Evidence suggests that men are also more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption and substance misuse. Life expectancy data also shows that on average women live four years more than men in England.
Whilst the call for evidence contains questions on the physical health of men, the support for the Men’s Health Strategy for England is also asking for men to give information on their mental health. Suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 50 with around 3 in 4 people who died by suicide in 2023 being men and some evidence suggesting that men are less likely to access NHS Talking Therapies for their mental health. The Government is committed to tackling the biggest killers of men, including cutting the lives lost to suicide, and want all men to get the support that they deserve and need.
I am proud that the Government is taking action to recognise the barriers men can face when accessing healthcare services and want to understand the challenges that men face in seeking and securing help and care. It is vital that every individual has the ability to receive the services that are responsive to their needs. These reforms to the NHS, including the Men’s Health Strategy for England, are part of our Plan for Change that this Labour Government is committed to delivering. I also recently attended the event organised by Prostate Cancer in Parliament, which shows not only the challenges for men’s health as a whole, but also how health inequalities also can vary by ethnicity and background.
In Feltham and Heston, the most prevalent health condition amongst the population is high blood pressure, with it affecting approximately 12.7% of people in the constituency, with non-diabetic hyperglycaemia the second most common health condition affecting 11.5% of the Feltham and Heston population. It is important that we look after our health and the health of our loved ones and as members of the community, we all work together to help find the best ways possible for the necessary health care to reach the individuals in need. That is why I am encouraging all men, boys and indeed wider family members who are able to do so, to please get involved and help support the Men’s Health Strategy for England by completing the survey before 17th July 2025. To get help support the Men’s Health Strategy for England and get involved visit Men’s Health Strategy – Department of Health and Social Care and begin the survey.