This Men’s Health Week (15–21 June), we’re joining the conversation about one of the most important — and often overlooked — topics in public health: why men are still not getting the healthcare they need, and what we can all do about it.
Please note: this blog touches on men’s mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to Samaritans on 116 123 (free, 24/7).
Men’s Health Week, organised each year by the Men’s Health Forum and timed to culminate on Father’s Day, is a moment to shine a light on the avoidable health challenges men face and this year the focus: how can we better use pharmacy to improve men’s health?
The GP Gap
The reality is that men are dying too young — and a significant part of the reason is that they simply aren’t accessing healthcare early enough. Evidence from the GP Patient Survey shows that men make significantly fewer GP appointments than women — just 38% of men had an appointment in the past three months, compared to 48% of women. And when men do seek help, research shows they tend to do so at a later stage of illness, with more serious consequences.
The reasons are well understood, even if they’re hard to shift: stoicism, embarrassment, the sense that it’s not “worth bothering” anyone, time pressures, and the very real practical barriers of getting through to a surgery in the first place. More than half of NHS patients say they avoided making a medical appointment in the past year, citing difficulty getting an appointment, worries about burdening the NHS, and simply not having enough time. For many men, all three ring true simultaneously.
The statistics are sobering: 1 in 5 men in the UK die before the age of 65. Many of those deaths are from conditions that, caught earlier, could have been treated. The pattern is clear — the less men engage with healthcare, the higher the cost.
Why Pharmacy Is Part of the Answer
The Men’s Health Forum is this year focusing specifically on men and pharmacy, publishing a new report on how improving men’s relationship with pharmacy services could meaningfully improve their health outcomes. It’s a compelling argument. Pharmacies are accessible, walk-in, no-appointment-needed, and staffed by highly qualified health professionals. For a man who won’t ring his GP surgery at 8am, a quick conversation at the pharmacy counter — or in a private consultation room — can be the first and most important step.
The expansion of Pharmacy First services means pharmacists can now treat a range of conditions directly, refer onwards when needed, and provide health checks that many men simply wouldn’t otherwise have. For blood pressure, weight management, skin conditions, sexual health and more, the pharmacy is increasingly a legitimate first port of call, not just somewhere to collect a prescription.
The Mental Health Conversation We Need to Have
This Men’s Health Week, Mates in Mind — a charity dedicated to improving mental health and wellbeing in the workplace — is calling on all of us to start a conversation. Not a clinical one, not a complicated one. Just a conversation.
Because far too many men are suffering in silence. Suicide remains the leading cause of death among men under 35 in the UK, and mental ill-health is at the heart of why so many men die too young. The stigma that still surrounds men’s mental health is something that every one of us — as colleagues, managers, friends, and family — has a role in dismantling.
Mates in Mind are encouraging everyone to start a conversation about mental health within their own organisations and across the businesses they work with. It doesn’t need to be a big, formal initiative. A genuine “how are you doing?” over a coffee can be enough to open a door that might otherwise stay firmly shut.
Supporting Mind and Body from the Inside
Alongside those conversations, it’s worth thinking about the everyday steps that support mental and cognitive wellbeing — and that’s where nutrition plays a valuable role.
Haskap berries are exceptionally rich in anthocyanins — particularly cyanidin-3-glucoside, which makes up the vast majority of the berry’s polyphenol content and has demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and vasomodulatory activity. Clinical research is building a compelling case for their role in brain health. A double-blind crossover study found that participants consuming higher doses of haskap berry anthocyanins showed significantly improved word recall and word recognition in episodic memory tasks, as well as reduced diastolic blood pressure.
Just one to two teaspoons of Haskapa berry powder each day provides a meaningful daily anthocyanin boost — easily stirred into a morning smoothie, yoghurt, or porridge. It’s a small, simple daily habit that supports the brain and the body as part of a broader, proactive approach to health.
This Week and Beyond
Men’s Health Week is a prompt to act — to encourage the men in your life to use the services available to them, to have the conversations that don’t always come naturally, and to make small, sustainable choices that add up over time.
The pharmacy on the high street. The colleague you check in on. The smoothie you make in the morning. None of it is complicated. All of it matters.
This Father’s Day, the best gift you can give might simply be a conversation.