What would make you go to the doctors?

Brighton men are being offered free beer to persuade them to visit their doctor. Does this sort of news make you despair or move to Brighton?

Of course, the real story is not quite as dramatic as the headlines have put it. A mere 30 pints of foaming ale are being pressed into service.

Hurstpierpoint Patient Participation Group (HPPG) is offering a free pint to the first 30 men to complete a health questionnaire at a health MOT clinic it is holding in the New Inn pub on 11 June. In other words very few men will actually consume this offer and it hardly amounts to a wholesale change of policy. The interest in the initiative and the enthusiasm in the reporting reflects the level of concern over just what can be done to get men to see their GP.

According to the 2003 General Household Survey, men are much less likely to visit their GP than women. Under the age of 45, men

visit their GP only half as often as women. It is only in the elderly that the gap narrows significantly — and even then women see their GP measurably more frequently than men.

Ann Morgan, the chair of HPPG told the local paper, the Argus: 'Men are reluctant to go for a health check-up. They see the surgery as a place where women go and they are unlikely to visit. A pub has a relaxed atmosphere where men feel comfortable.'

No one can argue with that but is free beer the solution?

Perhaps desperate measures are needed. What do you think? MHF's sister site malehealth is asking its readers what would tempt them to go to their doctors. You can give us your views below and also take part in the malehealth survey.