RELUCTANT men still feel put off from visiting their doctor.
A charity is calling for GP surgeries to be more men-friendly after a survey showed 45 per cent of men who responded said they were cautious about a visit to the doctor.
The Men's Health Forum has revealed the results in advance of National Men's He
alth Week, which runs from June 15 to June 21.
MHF representatives will call for Government and health policy makers to address the issue of men's underuse of services.
They will also challenge men to make small lifestyle changes to improve their health and make better use of the primary care service currently available.
The survey conducted by the MHF had 830 male respondents.
It found that the most common reason for men staying away was inconvenient opening hours followed by an inability to get time off work.
Dr Ian Banks, the president of the MHF, said: "Too many men suffer unnecessarily poor health and die too young from preventable causes. We need to ensure that services provided are tailored more to the needs of men, and then encourage them to make more use of what's available."
"In Great Britain, men visit their GP 20 per cent less frequently than women. The difference in usage is most noticable for the 16-44 age group, with women of this age more than twice as likely to use services as men."
For further information about Men's Health Forum and National Men's Health Week, visit www.menshealthforum.org.uk and for health information for men visit www.malehealth.co.uk
