Last month, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched a 12-week call for evidence, seeking insights from the public, health and social care professionals, academics and employers on ways to prevent and tackle the biggest issues facing men.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has urged people to come forward to share their views on “what is working and what more needs to be done” to close the life expectancy gap between men and women, as men in England die nearly four years earlier than women, on average.
“Every day, men across England are dying early from preventable causes,” he said.
“Men are hit harder by a range of conditions, while tragically suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50.
“Our Plan for Change means we will tackle these issues head on through a men’s health strategy, and today’s call for evidence is the crucial next step in understanding what works, what doesn’t, and how we can design services men will actually use.”
The consultation will be open until 17 July 2025 via the DHSC website. Insights gathered will inform the final men’s health strategy, expected to be published later this year.
Men are disproportionately affected by conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Alarmingly, around three in four people who died by suicide in 2023 were men.
Health secretary Wes StreetingPic credit: Gettyimages
The upcoming men’s health strategy was first announced by Streeting at the Men’s Health Summit in November 2024, hosted by Arsenal and the Premier League in partnership with Movember.
“Too many men are dying too young,” said Amy O’Connor, global lead, policy and advocacy at Movember.
She urged members of the public and healthcare experts to share solutions to create a lasting impact on the future of men’s health.
“The men’s health strategy is a once in a generation opportunity to invest in positive change for men and their loved ones,” she said.
Accessing healthcare
According to the ONS Health Insight Survey, commissioned by NHS England, 45.8 per cent of women compared to just 33.5 per cent of men had attempted to make contact with their GP practice for themselves or someone else in their household in the last 28 days.
Men were more likely to say they weren't registered at a dental practice and ‘rarely or never’ used a pharmacy, too.
They also make up considerably fewer hospital outpatient appointments, external than women, even when pregnancy-related appointments are discounted.
Pharmacies are uniquely placed within their communities to shift the dial when it comes to men’s health inequalities and improve access to advice and treatment.
Community pharmacies have the capability to have an environment where men feel comfortable to come in and discuss any health issues they may be facing.
Key to this are pharmacy teams who are knowledgeable on men’s-health related issues, offering a wide-range of clinical services and also products and medicines that support men’s health and wellbeing.
Certain pharmacies such as Superdrug offer specialised men's health services, addressing a range of concerns beyond routine consultations. These services often include consultations, medication, and treatment for conditions like erectile dysfunction, hair loss, premature ejaculation, and smoking cessation.
Some pharmacies also provide preventive care like blood pressure monitoring and screenings for conditions like diabetes.
Pharmadoctor, for example, partners with thousands of pharmacists across the UK to run a men's health service that makes treatments convenient and accessible, all without a trip to the GP.
Whether you are planning to open a men’s health clinic or slowly start offering men’s health services, knowing the common issues that impact men is the first step.
Sexual health
One area where pharmacists can play a major role when it comes to men’s health is offering advice on sexual health.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with approximately 55,000 new cases reported annually, and is also the second-most-deadly cancer among men.
As a country we are lagging far behind our European neighbours in the detection and treatment of this disease, with unacceptably large – and growing – numbers of men dying unnecessarily every year.
There has been a recent rise in the number of men seeking private prostrate cancer tests with Pharmacy2U revealing it had seen a 600 per cent rise in sales of blood tests that looks for signs of the disease.
According to Pharmacy2U, men under 50 are most likely to order the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. The trend followed the news last year that Olympic champion cyclist Sir Chris Hoy had terminal prostate cancer.
He was diagnosed at 48, having never been offered a PSA test.
Last year, Superdrug launched a PSA blood test service through its high street health clinics, in a bid to encourage more men to check their prostate.
Anyone whose results are flagged as a concern will be directed to see their GP for further tests, a spokesman said.
Niamh McMillan, Superdrug’s Pharmacy Superintendent said: ‘By introducing our new PSA blood test service across our 80 high street health clinics, we hope more men will feel encouraged and comfortable to prioritise their health and get themselves checked.’
Erectile dysfunction (ED), is common – as many as one in three men have to deal with it at some point in their lives – and has different causes and treatment options. There are many ways to prevent or minimize its impact on a man’s life.
The first step is often an open conversation with a healthcare provider who can address common misconceptions and offer support and insight into a sexual health issue that can be uncomfortable to talk about for many.
Though men often stigmatised and men find it difficult to talk about, ED usually nothing to worry about with treatment and support available to help people, including over the counter medication that can be bought from pharmacies.
Pharmacists can also offer lifestyle advice around ED relating weight loss, exercise, healthy eating, smoking cessation and stress management.
According to a 2024 Department of Health report, unused medicines cost the NHS approximately £300 million every year —comprising an estimated £110 million worth of medicine returned to pharmacies, £90 million worth of unused prescriptions being stored in homes and £50 million worth of medicines disposed of by Care Homes.
“Medicines waste is often caused by overprescribing and not actually knowing whether patients are taking the medication,” said Atul Patel, superintendent pharmacist at Lincoln Pharmacy.
He highlighted the issue of patients being given three-month supplies of medications like Ramipril, leading to unnecessary waste if blood tests reveal problems and require switching medication.
“When patients are initiated on therapy for blood pressure, you’re supposed to have blood tests done in two weeks. But I had a case where a patient was started on Ramipril and given a three-month supply. Why?
“If I do the blood tests in two weeks and the results do not come out right, I have to stop the medication and switch it. That leaves two months’ worth of medication wasted.”
To avoid this unnecessary waste, Patel advocated for mandatory 28-day prescriptions.
“If the medication needs to be changed after three weeks when the blood results come, you’re not going to lose that much of waste,” he explained.
He also pointed out the issue of unused medication, noting that many patients don’t actually take what’s prescribed.
“You have to look at pharmacy waste bins to see how much medication is returned unused. Patients will often tell the doctor, ‘Yes, I’m taking it,’ but it’s the pharmacists who know the reality.”
Right now, most of the unused medicines are likely incinerated without proper auditing. To get accurate data, this kind of waste should be systematically reviewed and studied, Patel suggested.
Patel believes that a two-pharmacist model—one pharmacist to handle routine services, and another, a highly trained independent prescriber, to carry out early interventions could help cut down medicine waste significantly.
Atul Patel
“If the entire medication process—including repeat prescriptions, initiation, and clinical reviews—were managed at the pharmacy level, it would significantly reduce waste and make the patient’s journey to accessing medicines and healthcare professionals much easier.”
“That’s why I believe the government should invest in a two-pharmacist model.”
“One pharmacist continues providing routine services, while a highly trained independent prescriber—like myself—runs clinics. We can make early interventions with controlled wastage. It’s a win-win for both patients and the NHS.”
He noted that the government currently supports pharmacists at health centres but not at pharmacies, and that pharmacies are still dependent on GP referrals.
“There is no model in place at the moment that the government is looking at, and most of the support goes to having pharmacists and staff at the health centre level, but rarely at the community pharmacy,” Patel noted.
“In 2025, pharmacists will come out as independent prescribers, and the Pathfinder programme is being used to support this. However, even that isn’t properly remunerated to ensure effective evaluation.”
“We’re still in a situation, much like with the Pharmacy First programme, where we depend on referrals from GPs. We’re working with our hands tied behind our backs—and that needs to change, drastically.”
“The two-pharmacist model is something the government should invest in without hesitation. They will see results immediately.”
He also emphasised the need for investment in technology and apprentices to improve patient care and reduce medication waste.
“We need investment in technology to free up our time so that we can focus on the most important task: addressing and treating the patient.”
Uncollected medication
Uncollected medication is a significant but often overlooked issue in the pharmacy system.
“Not only does it waste the pharmacy’s time and resources in obtaining and preparing prescriptions, but also represents a huge cost to the NHS,” Pritee Panchmatia, superintendent pharmacist and director of Howletts Pharmacy told Pharmacy Business.
She explained: "Every month, we put back into stock items not collected from the month before. For instance, as we come to the end of May, we’ll remove from the shelf everything that wasn’t collected in April, otherwise, it’s just going to sit there.”
“It’s potentially wasted time and money obtaining the stock, especially if it’s something we don’t normally keep in stock and have ordered specifically for that prescription.”
“As a business, we often lose money procuring stock that we can’t use because the patient never collected it, and we’re not allowed to claim for it since it was never handed out to the patient.”
“Also, people often forget the time we spend preparing these prescriptions. I’ve paid for my staff to dispense it, label it, and keep it ready. That time goes to waste, and then additional time is spent returning it to stock, hoping we can reuse it for someone else.”
“This issue needs to be addressed,” she added.
Panchmatia also pointed out that two- or three-monthly prescribing is not the right approach, as it increases the volume of waste.
“Prescribers don’t always see the level of wastage that comes back to pharmacies. And it’s not just about the medication that sits on the shelf — we also see medication that has been dispensed, but not used by the patient, and then returned to us for disposal.”
“That’s a huge cost to the NHS because that is money we've claimed for. That’s money the government has paid to the prescriber and dispenser — and now that medication is going into the bin because we can’t reuse it. It all gets incinerated.”
So, according to her, there are two issues that need attention:
Reasons for uncollected medication
There are various reasons patients might decide not to collect their prescriptions.
Panchmatia elaborated: “A lot of the time, it might be something prescribed for an acute illness. You often see antibiotics or other medications not collected, especially when they're for conditions that aren’t long-term.”
“Patients sometimes decide they no longer want the medication. Other times, patients come in for two or three but opt to leave one behind to avoid paying multiple prescription charges.
“When it's long-term, regular medication, we do try to contact the patient before returning it to stock. But even then, we don’t always hear back.”
“Sometimes, we never find out the reason—it’s simply never collected, and the patient doesn’t explain why.”
“I’ve also noticed, especially when we used to do Medicines Use Reviews (MURs), that patients sometimes pretend to their GP they’re taking something regularly when they’re not, because they don’t want the GP to stop prescribing it or think they’re non-compliant.”
“So, they either never collect it from us, or they do, and a year or two later, return a huge pile of unused medication for disposal.
“In reality, they don't always collect it from us, or they collect it, but then a year or two later, return a huge pile of unused medication for disposal.”
Need greater patient awareness, system reforms
Wales and Scotland have introduced free prescriptions for everyone, but Panchmatia feels that when medication is free, patients don’t always value what they’re getting.
“I find that those who pay are more likely to, if they need their medication, to take it regularly and not waste it because they've paid for it.”
“I’m not suggesting we start charging every patient for every medication. But perhaps we need more education around what these medications actually cost.”
“We often talk about how much hospital visits or GP appointments cost, but rarely do we talk about the cost of unused medication.”
Pritee Panchmatia
Panchmatia emphasised the need for putting better systems in place to avoid medicine wastage.
“If a patient knows a prescription is being sent but they’re unlikely to need it or collect it, there should be a mechanism where they tell the pharmacy, 'Don’t dispense it unless I confirm.'”
“Take antibiotics, for instance—a GP might say, 'We’re prescribing it, but don’t take it unless your symptoms don't improve.' But that message doesn’t reach us, so we dispense it straight away, and it sits on the shelf to be collected.”
Panchmatia also emphasised the need to raise patient awareness about the true cost of medication and the importance of collecting their prescriptions on time.
"One thing that stood out when we took part in the NPA campaigns is that many patients don’t realise that in a pharmacy, medication is purchased at the cost of the business.”
“People are often unbothered when they think it’s NHS money, but when they realise it impacts the pharmacy—because we buy the medication and don’t get reimbursed until it's dispensed—they tend to start thinking a little differently."
NHS encourages patients to let their GP or pharmacist know if they have difficulty taking their medicines or if they have stopped taking any medicines.
