The reason it matters that waiting-times are so long and facilities so poor is not just a consumerist one: it is

The reason it matters that waiting-times are so long, and facilities so poor, is not just a consumerist one: it is a matter of life and death. British survival rates for any number of illnesses lag far behind the figures in many other, comparable countries. In the long-running debate over the future of the National Health Service, some key points are often forgotten. The reason it matters that waiting-times are so long, and facilities so poor, is not just a consumerist one: it is a matter of life and death.

British survival rates for any number of illnesses lag far behind the figures in many other, comparable countries.
That is not, of course, always the fault of the NHS. Nearly half (45 per cent) of men are overweight, and a further 17 per cent are obese; 28 per cent of men smoke, and 27 per cent drink more than the recommended limit. So it is hardly surprising that male life expectancy is less than 75 years, and that the average man can expect to spend 15 years of his life with a chronic or serious illness.The launch yesterday of the All-Party Group of MPs on Men’s Health will, of itself, do nothing to improve matters. If 53 years of the NHS has not brought about any improvements, it is difficult to see what a group of MPs will manage. But what it just may do is help to bring home how stark some of the statistics are.In particular, the group’s chairman, Dr Howard Stoate, a GP as well as an MP, highlighted a figure that is still more shocking than traditional morbidity statistics – and still a taboo subject. In the past two decades, the number of young men committing suicide has risen alarmingly: in 1997, 164 out of 1,000,000 men between 15 and 24 killed themselves – a rise of over 55 per cent in 20 years.

In 1999, over 1,500 men between 15 and 34 took their own lives.As Dr Stoate put it: “Traditional suicide-prevention strategies have not been effective. We need to develop more imaginative ways of tackling this problem.”Suicide remains the most shocking of all deaths; it is the result of a despair that we do not like to acknowledge. When it happens, those who are close to the victim usually feel a deep personal sense of responsibility, that they could and should have done something more to prevent it. Job pressures, problems of identity in a more equal age, poor education and lack of socialising skills have all been blamed for the phenomenon.But until we stop treating the subject as a taboo, we will never be able to deal with its aftermath or, more important, help to prevent it. The new parliamentary group should make a priority of raising the issue and prompting new research Only then will we be able properly to help..