MHF backs Time To Go prostate campaign

The Men's Health Forum has joined forces with Alan Hansen, TV football pundit, and a panel of experts to launch the Time To Go Campaign sponsored by Yamanouchi Pharma Ltd. encouraging men to take greater responsibility for their prostate health. The panel hope the campaign will help men overcome the common concerns, embarrassment and apathy that often stop men seeking advice about Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).

The campaign was launched in response to one of the largest surveys ever to examine UK men's attitudes to health. The Time to Go Survey, an online omnibus survey of 2148 men, found that around a quarter of men over 50 years old get up twice or more every night to pass water, but that the overwhelming majority think this is 'normal'. In fact, this is a symptom of BPH, one of the most common conditions experienced by older men.

Responses from the Time To Go Survey also showed that:

• 70% believed embarrassment might stop men visiting their GP about a bladder problem 
• Nearly 50% believed fear may stop men their age seeking advice on bladder problems
• 43% of men believe that a bladder-related condition would need to be corrected through surgery. In fact, surgery is only really necessary in a minority of cases.

To encourage men to seek help from their GP, the 'Time to Go' campaign sees the launch of the Prostate Health Checklist. This easy-to-use symptom checklist is designed to help men identify whether they are suffering from a bladder or prostate condition, such as BPH. The checklist is:

Do you...

• get up to pass urine more than once or twice a night?
• feel your urine flow is too slow?
• feel that you haven't emptied your bladder completely?
• have difficulties starting to pass urine?

Full details of the campaign at www.malehealth.co.uk/timetogo

The Time To Go Campaign is sponsored by Yamanouchi Pharma Ltd

The Time To Go Survey

The 'Time to Go' survey was developed through collaboration between the 'Time to Go' campaign board (Dr Brian Crichton, GP, West Midlands; Declan Cahill, Consultant Urologist, Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital; and Dr Chris Steele, GP and media doctor for This Morning) and the Men's Health Forum. Yamanouchi Pharma Ltd. sponsored the survey.