First 1001 Days Movement – Response to the Men’s Health Strategy for England 

We welcome publication of the Men’s Health Strategy, and its recognition that fatherhood is a critical life stage shaping men’s health, children’s outcomes, and family wellbeing. It is also great to see the government recognise, “babies and children benefit from secure relationships with their fathers”. Also, we are pleased to see a commitment to include fathers in the design and delivery of services and to strengthen evidence on paternal perinatal mental health. 

The strategy acknowledges many of the issues highlighted by our members. For example, that fathers are often overlooked by services, that their mental health needs are rarely assessed and that not involving fathers can have lasting consequences for the whole family. Father-inclusive practice needs to be ‘the norm’ across Best Start Family Hubs, maternity, health visiting, mental health and early years services. 

However, significant gaps remain. The strategy outlines the challenges facing fathers, but it does not go far enough in providing practical solutions. Our submission to the government’s consultation proposed a number of ways to support fathers, but the strategy lacks this level of detail. We recommended: 

• All fathers having an NHS health-check, during the antenatal period, or within the first six weeks of becoming a father  

• All fathers having access to specialist perinatal mental health support  

• Fathers’ and children’s health records to be linked  

• Ensuring parents and their babies can access specialised parent-infant relationship support if they need it 

The First 1001 Days Movement stands ready to support the implementation of this strategy and to work with Government to close the remaining gaps identified in our consultation response.