Don't leave it too late to take advantage of all the health checks you can - Lesley McLeod

I have just turned 60. And it’s great. So, I was delighted to be up, bright and early, to chum my neighbour to the health centre to have her annual check-up. In something reminiscent of Tony Hancock’s famous ‘Blood Donor’ sketch, she’d a list as long as an armful to have checked. All was well, but my friend is a sensible woman and well aware that a little care now can offset a whole load of hassle later.

Lesley McLeod, CEO, Association for Project Safety

In stark contrast I noticed that, while one in eight men is likely to get prostate cancer, far fewer than could be cured – or would have the chance of living good long lives with the condition – are coming forward for any testing at all. The same can be said for cervical smear tests. It may well be we can see a time when women will only need one test in a lifetime but, for now, embarrassment holds many women back. Whatever the cause, it is undoubtedly true that any treatment will be more invasive than early examination. And too many are just leaving it too late.

It’s always much easier to talk about accidents. Accidents are interesting. Accidents make – regrettably – great copy. Accidents are – shamefully – much more macho. Even when so any of the things that go wrong are, arguably, more likely to be our own fault.

Accidents could frequently have been prevented. I should know – I work for the Association for Project Safety (APS) which was set up to try to cut the number of accidents and injuries in the construction sector. The circumstances are much more in our control and failures result from – more often they we might like to admit – failures in planning and care. They are not confined to the kind of momentary lapse to which we are all prone and that, while tragic, are much more understandable.

But health? You’d think people got ill on purpose. Once you get past the pandemic, which has dominated so much for so long, we seem to have nothing to say. I remember chatting to Kate Walker, from the Diabetes Safety Organisation, and she made me laugh. She does the rounds trying to raise awareness about the condition and found people – mostly men it has to be said - sidled up to her stand at conferences and exhibitions. They were often outraged she mentioned impotence as a side-effect and seemed to want to stuff their ears with cottonwool to stop the truth getting in. But it was, she said, surprising how many then tried to read her information leaflets upside down - or just took one away, “for a friend”.

Dare I say it? We could do with growing some balls. We’re not children and this is real life. And we should be well past playground sniggering to cover our modesty.

No one likes to be prodded about by the medical profession. When I had my last mammogram, I made a bit of a tit of myself because I couldn’t work out what I was meant to be doing with my boobs or where they were meant to be going – ’twas ever thus! But I was glad I went for the test. And happier still all was well.

None of us is immune to the aches and pains of getting on a bit. And, as our society ages we are likely to see increasing problems due to poor health. These have to be managed so everyone can get on and enjoy our longer lives. We need to step up and take advantage of the checks and tests on offer. Particularly now we don’t have Covid to use as an excuse to ignore the blue envelopes from the NHS.

Lesley McLeod, Chief Executive, Association for Project Safety