Men's Health: How to improve health outcomes, knowledge and behaviours
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Healthwatch England has conducted major new research to inform the Government’s first-ever men’s health strategy for England, expected to be published soon. We commissioned a nationally representative poll of 3,575 men aged 18+ in June 2025. We also drew on local Healthwatch engagement, with men from diverse backgrounds, spanning a wide range of ages, ethnicities, occupations, and areas. Working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), we ensured that our poll complemented the Department’s own call for evidence for its strategy. We asked men about prevention and care for health conditions that disproportionately or only affect men; their health literacy; and overall priorities for change in the NHS.
NHS Health Checks
- Only 37% of eligible men (aged 40 to 74 and with no long-term conditions) said they had ever been invited to an NHS Health Check.
- 56% of men who’d attended a check had made lifestyle changes.
- 92% of men who’d gone for a check would take up a future invite.
Prostate cancer screening
- 79% of all men (including 81% of Black men) said they would be likely to attend prostate screening if the NHS introduced it routinely.
- Only 36% of men aged 50 and over had asked their GP for a PSA test
- Seven per cent of those who’d asked for a PSA test had been refused (though caution is advised on this statistic given it is a low sample)
Mental Health
- 52% of men said they would visit their GP, and only one-in-five (20%) would self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies if they experienced mental health issues.
- Men were significantly less likely than women to turn to their friends and family for mental health support (38% vs 45%).
Health literacy
- One in 10 men use AI, like ChatGPT, for health information; but mostly used the NHS.
- Men mostly want to receive information from the NHS via email and the NHS App.
Priorities for change
Better GP access is the top priority for change in the NHS for men; they want to see the same GP for new and ongoing physical and mental health problems and would wait longer for an appointment to do so.