is it me, or is this report about men's health riddled with stuff really unhelpful/misleading about women?!

[dontforgetnow]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5q14qm0l2o

It's well known that men go to the doctors less than women, and data backs this up.
The NHS told the BBC it doesn't release demographic data about GP appointments. But according to the ONS Health Insight Survey, external from February, commissioned by NHS England, 45.8% of women compared to just 33.5% of men had attempted to make contact with their GP practice for themselves or someone else in their household in the last 28 days

is the 'fact' that men go to the doctors less than women, based on the statistic that follows that statement?? 45.8% of women compared to 33.5% of men...blah blah....'for themselves or someone else in their household'...huh?? that is because women are arranging the appointments not just for themselves but for the children and often the husband as well!!

Women, in contrast, are "sort of forced to engage in the health system" because they might seek appointments related to menstruation, contraception, cervical screenings or pregnancy, says Seb Pillon, a GP in Bolton.

SORT OF forced? SORT OF??

what is the point of trying to encourage men to go for more routine appointments/before symptoms are awful?? women do that and it takes years to get diagnosis because we aren't taken seriously even when symptoms are awful

🤬🤬🤬 or am I just in a bad mood?

Out of all women, 45.8% of them made contact with healthcare. Out of all men, 33.5%. It doesn’t have to add up. The missing number which add up to 100% are the 54.2% of women who DIDN’T try to book an appointment and the 66.5% of men who didn’t.

it's a percentage of the people who responded to survey, not the whole population

I was about to make this point. I can repeatedly visit with a problem before I’m sent for investigations. DH gets referred for a scan on his first visit for a bit of a bad back. 🙄 Women are expected to put up and shut up.

I have had blood in my urine for almost a year (well, maybe longer....but first tested in June 2024) with no infection. each time, I am told retest in 6 weeks to see if it persists. each time it is positive, so they culture... negative for infection....asked to retest in 6 weeks....and on and on...

And let's not forget it's the women who make appointments for, and attend with, their children, relatives, elderlies, themselves (often being fobbed off), plus all the follow-ups with all the above categories.

I'd like to see the statistics for women who make appointments purely for themselves as opposed to their children or elderly parents. And let's remove appointments relating to pregnancy and menopause as neither are experienced by men.

Frankly, men have the right idea. I am female, and it astonishes me how often some of my female friends go to the doctor, for utter trivia.
I'm all for stoicism, and only seeking help when at death's door - point being that we don't need nonsense about stereotypes because not all women - or men - are the same.

and do they pick you @Cynic17 ?

And contraception. Added to your categories I’m willing to bet makes up 90% of my total visits. Always managed to get contraception, didn’t manage to get HRT when I asked (in desperation).

I’ve been to A&E with DD more times than DH has. All for proper reasons.

YANBU. By the time I hwt
my arse to the GP there’s a list of things that need attention. We might get to the top 1 or 2. The rest can wait. It’s not that we aren’t stoic ffs. It’s that we generally speaking have a bit more going on. Or can’t be arsed to battle for simple support.

I mean, if we're going with stereotypes, if men are so stoic, why is man flu a thing? Why do men get the dressing gown of doom out, take to their bed, make a huge fuss BUT avoid all lemsip and painkillers, while women just dose up and crack on as normal despite feeling equally shit? Is that really stoicism? To avoid basic medication or is it attention seeking so that he can milk what he really knows is a minor illness?

Similarly with A&E - ask any HCP. It's men who are more likely to make a fuss, moan and whine, have the 'low pain threshold'.

oh, I feel this. I had a GP tell me that she 'didn't have time for anymore' time was up and she had to move onto the next patient...after waiting 3 weeks for the telephone appointment

So 2 in five people have been in contact with their GP in the last month? This seems very high.

How compiled: we derive estimates from questionnaire responses of HIS [Health Information Survey] participants who were initially enrolled on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS).

I guess if you are still responding to surveys about health services four years on you are probably fairly interested in the subject, and you're likely to be a relatively frequent flyer in the health system. So the 2 in 5 people contacting their GPs last month are quite a specific population.

Women being carers, more likely, and living longer, probably accounts for most of the gap suggested, although contraception and pregnancy would add to it too.

no, it's a percentage of the number of people surveyed...which I think was 88,000(?)

more women than men responded to the survey, I forget the numbers

but there are obvious issues with 1) people who responded probably more likely to be the people who have been to a GP and 2) the sample size is bigger for women than men

Oh right - didn't see that about sample size. So likely closer to one in three. But the rest applies still, I think.

it's misleading isn't it. a much more straightforward and useful stat would just be, out of the patients that contacted the GP in they last month, x% were male and y% were female

Medical misogyny is still a huge issue. Women are far more likely to have their pain ignored, or be told their physical health problems are anxiety. Conditions which are more common in women are far more likely to be underresearched and ignored. Doctors already bend over backwards to prioritise mens health while ignoring women, we don't need any more of it. Frankly if men cba to go to the doctors or to wait in a and e that's their problem, they don't need any more mollycoddling. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/apr/analysis-womens-pain-routinely-underestimated-and-gender-stereotypes-are-blame

I’ve spent quite a lot of time in A&E recently as my son has been poorly. From my observations over three visits, there were slightly more men than women. And I would say a big percentage of men and women were over 60. The most recent visit which was daytime rather than evening, I was struck by how many more were younger men who were saying things like “I’ve had this pain for three weeks” but hadn’t been to their GP.

Am also amazed by the figures. So almost half the women in the country have tried to engage with their GP in a month. I also suspect sampling error. What a weird way to collect the data. Why couldn’t they take it directly from GP practices?

Doesn't this whole discussion feel a bit mean-spirited and supportive of stereotypes?

Almost every man I know in recent years who has gone to A&E has stormed out in a strop at having to wait, tried to circumvent waiting by waltzing into say, radiology for a "walk in" x Ray, and complained that snacks and drinks aren't free while you wait. And eventually left because they were "so bored".

If that's true then it might be worth reflecting on the company you keep!

I have to reorder HRT every month via my GP. Maybe it's skewed by something like that.