New NHS England mental health taskforce

26/03/15 . News

The NHS England mental health taskforce must tackle men's mental well-being.

More news on mental health today as NHS England announces a mental health taskforce to look at the future of mental health services.

Almost four in five suicides are by men – suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 35 and there has been a sharp increase in the rate among men aged 35-64.

Will men's mental health be addressed?

The Men's Health Forum has challenged NHS England and others to act on men's mental health.

Men's Health Manifesto challenges NHS England on mental health

Martin Tod, chief executive of the Men's Health Forum said:

Three changes from NHS England could make a real difference to the lives of so many men.
Drive access, don't wait for men to engage. Ensure mental health services work for full-time workers.
Secondly , support research on men's mental health
Finally, we need to join up care for people with drug, alcohol and mental health problems. Stop using drug or alcohol problems as a barrier to mental health treatment – invest in integrated care for dual diagnosis.

The Men's Health Forum has set out recommendations for mental health in its Men's Health Manifesto and published a manual for men Beat Stress, Feel Better.

More information:

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.

Registered with the Fundraising Regulator