Helping to save more testicles
(Barts Health consultant James Green photographed above)
A group of consultants, doctors, young children and teachers have co created and recently launched a new teaching programme that aims to raise awareness about testicular health and recognise the symptoms of testicular torsion, in boys and young men.
Led by Barts Health urologist consultant and director of the urology network, James Green, the group has developed a number of free online resources which have recently been shared with thousands of schools across the UK via the PSHE Association.
On testicular torsions, a painful twisting of the testicle affecting one in 4,000 young men and boys every year, Mr Green explains: “The saddest thing is that people come to us when it’s too late, and most parents don’t know about the symptoms, and they wait too long and leave it thinking the pain will go away.”
“Sometimes it’s not easy for children and parents to identify what the symptoms of some of these conditions are.”
“They always say I wish I knew, and they tell me that no one teaches them about these sorts of things and it’s sad, so I thought let’s do something and start by educating schools”.
Over the next two years, James and his team will be working with Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Barking and Havering to do a wider roll out across the north east London boroughs. “The resources can be accessed by anybody in the UK, but we want to focus our resources on north east London communities for now,” says James.
“If we start teaching younger children about it, they can then start to recognise the symptoms and they will know when to come to us and also teach their parents, and this will help us to save more testicles.”
James spoke to The Sun about this project and discussed the importance of raising awareness about testicular health in young boys.