A NEW gender equality scheme will ensure that the different needs of both men and women can be met in the local health service. Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust says the scheme will promote gender equality for patients, service users, carers and staff. T

A NEW gender equality scheme will ensure that the different needs of both men and women can be met in the local health service.

Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust says the scheme will promote gender equality for patients, service users, carers and staff.

The PCT is currently using schemes from the previous PCTs it recently replaced and the new scheme will cover race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion and belief.

Gender equality has been introduced by the Government to recognise the fact that women and men have different needs.

A project carried out by the Men's Health Forum has highlighted several facts on the under-use of NHS services by men.

- Although more men are overweight than women they make up only 25 per cent of patients in primary care weight loss programmes.

- Men are twice as likely as women to both develop, and died from, the 10 most common cancers affecting both sexes.

- Sixty per cent of sudden infant deaths occur in boys.

- Men are three times as likely to take their own lives.

- Seventy eight per cent of drug related deaths occur in men.

A report to the PCT says although legal rights to sex equality have existed for 30 years, discrimination and gender equality are still widespread with women frequently put at a disadvantage by policies which are not family friendly.

The gender equality scheme will be valid for three years and contains an action plan which will be reviewed annually and updated as necessary.