One man in five dies before the age of 65.
TOGETHER we can change that.

Man MOT helps men. Could it help NHS?

25/01/17 . News

A leading health journal's review of the Forum's Man MOT service shows how it could benefit primary care.

Man MOT enabled men to chat or email with a GP at any time of the day, anonymously, without appointment. The article in Trends in Urology & Men's Health, ‘Man MOT’: a new approach to primary care for men, was written by men's health consultant Peter Baker. He concludes: 'Man MOT has successfully demonstrated that men, especially young men concerned about sexual, urological and mental health problems, will use an online health information and advice service in significant numbers.'

The article calls on funders of health care to think outside the box. Peter writes: 'Potential new funders have been deterred to date by difficulties in demonstrating cost-effectiveness: there is, for example, no data on health outcomes, evidence that the service reduces demand for conventional GP services, or the exact demographics and location (by postcode) of most of its users. Furthermore, many of the problems raised by men with the Man MOT GPs are not current NHS priorities.'

Jim Pollard, a former Man MOT project manager for the Forum said: 'Peter's excellent report effectively throws down a gauntlet. What matters most: the priorities of patients, who have shown they want instant, online anonymous services that answer their questions or the challenges the public sector have in incorporating an anonymous approach into their management and organisational structures? Effectively funded, a Man MOT type of service could be an excellent self-triaging system for an overworked NHS.'

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.

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Charity registered in England and Wales (no. 1087375). Company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 4142349).