Lives Too Short - The State of Men’s Health

Men and health services

Men visit the GP 20% less than women. (6)

Men are generally poor users of primary care, especially younger men who visit the GP half as often as younger women.

Women have higher GP consultation rates for a wide range of illnesses, so the gender differences cannot be explained simply by their need for contraceptive and pregnancy care . Women also continue to visit the GP more than men through their 40s and 50s. (7)

Men use hospital A&E departments

52% of all hospital A&E department visits are by men. Men aged between 20 and 29 years are the biggest single group of users of A&E departments. (8)

More information

Central to the work of the MHF is men’s poor use of a wide range of primary care services. Men often delay seeking medical help until conditions have become more advanced and harder to treat – this is thought to be a factor behind men’s high death rates from cancer and other conditions.

The Forum has completed a range of work on this issue. The Gender and Access to Health Services Study (2008) , commissioned from the MHF and published by the Department of Health, examined the different ways women and men use a variety of key services.

In 2009, we published the Racks of make up and no spanners report on men’s use of pharmacies.

There is information on access to services on malehealth, the MHF's health information site for men of all ages. There is also an excellent section on understanding health statistics.