November is Men's Health Awareness Month
Every year throughout November, the ‘MOVEMBER’ campaign aims to raise awareness of men’s health, with a special focus on prostate health.
During September, as part of its patient event series, St Joseph’s Hospital in Newport held an evening presentation hosted by Mr Adam Cox, Consultant Urological Surgeon entitled “Everything you wanted to know about the prostate but were afraid to ask.” We recently caught up with Mr Cox ahead of the ‘Movember’ month to get some additional comment and advice for men that may be seeking more information about prostate health checks or treatment.
“I’m Adam Cox, a Consultant Urological Surgeon here at St Joseph’s Hospital with a special interest in Robotic Surgery and Prostate Enlargement Surgery. I’ve worked with St Joseph’s Hospital for almost eight years now. I also have an NHS Wales role and work as part of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, predominantly at the Royal Gwent Hospital. I’m the former cancer lead there where I developed an expertise in managing most cancers, but my specialist interest is prostate surgery, using the ‘Intuitive daVinci Xi Robot’ that assists surgeons in complex, minimally invasive procedures.”
“Here at St Joseph’s Hospital the main focus of my work is treating men with urinary symptoms and enlarged prostates, with a particular expertise for delivering treatment using HoLEP (Holmium Laser Enucleation of the Prostate) which is the universal gold standard treatment for men with an enlarged prostate. The HoLEP laser treatment is only currently available in South Wales at the Aneurin Bevan UHB and St Joseph’s Hospital.”
“Historically men have been quite poor and reluctant to talk openly about health related complaints, particularly involving the urinary tract or sexual organs, but through prominent members of society or celebrities being affected by diseases, the impact of social media reporting has seen an improvement in the number of men coming forward to seek advice from healthcare professionals. Reassuringly, there is also an extra push these days from close family members or relatives to encourage men of a certain age to seek the advice of a GP or Urologist. I’m fortunate that here at St Joseph’s we have a resident private GP facility onsite that I cross-refer and collaborate with regularly.”
“Although there is no routine prostate-screening available within the NHS currently, for patients with suspected urological cancer symptoms there is a fast track available within most NHS hospitals, but there may still be potential delays within the treatment pathway. If someone is particularly worried in regards to a health issue then being seen as a private patient will lead to a much quicker diagnosis and effective treatment. It’s also important to note that not all problems with the prostate means prostate cancer. It’s vital that you are correctly diagnosed by an expert as soon as any early symptoms may occur, and to that end St Joseph’s Hospital offers a self-referral fast-track Prostate Health Check as a private pay patient.”
You can find out more about this service by visiting our website:
Or call one of the friendly patient advisors on: 01633 820 344.
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