4. www.nhs.uk
Words to avoid Why Preferred term
Committed suicide Associated with
crime or sign- - this
was decriminalised in
1961
‘died by suicide’
‘took their own life’
Successful suicide
Completed suicide
Inadvertently
presenting as a
‘desired outcome’
‘died by suicide’
‘took their own life’
Deliberate self harm Use of ‘deliberate’
implies conscious
choice
‘self harm’
Suicide epidemic Sensationalising
suicide
‘increasing rates’
4
Talking Smart
5. www.nhs.uk
• 5821 suicides occurred in the UK in 2017.
• Suicide is the leading cause of death among
young people aged 20-34 years in the UK
• Those at highest risk are men aged between
40 and 44 years who have a rate of 24.1
deaths per 100,000 population.
• Each suicide affects over 100 people and
costs on average £1.7M (DH 2011)
5
Office for National Statistics data
(09/2018)
8. www.nhs.uk
Value
per 100,000 population
UK 10.1
North East 10.8
North West 10.1
South West 10.5
Yorkshire 9.9
West Midlands 9.9
South East 9.1
East of England 8.7
East Midlands 8.1
London 7.7 8
Suicide rates by region, 2017
Source: Public Health England (based on ONS source data)
9. www.nhs.uk
Contact with NHS in year
before suicide
• Around 1/3 have contact with mental health services
• Additional 1/3 have contact with primary care only
• Around 1/3 have no contact, mainly young & male
11. www.nhs.uk
Government Policy
11
2012: Preventing suicide in England. A cross government
outcomes strategy intended to reduce the suicide rate and
improve support for those affected by suicide.
• Reducing the risk of suicide in high risk groups
• Tailoring approaches to improve mental health in
specific groups
• Reducing access to means of suicide
• Providing better information and support to those
bereaved or affected by suicide
• Supporting the media in delivering sensitive approaches
to suicide and suicidal behaviour
• Supporting research, data collection and monitoring
12. www.nhs.uk
2017: Preventing suicide in England: Third
progress report.
• Local suicide prevention plans
• Middle aged men, mental health
patients, prisoners
• Better data
• Bereavement support
• Self- harm
Government Policy
12
13. www.nhs.uk
• Reducing risk in men, especially middle
age
• Preventing and responding to self harm
• Treatment of depression in primary care
• Acute MH care- inc inpatients
• Bereavement support
13
Priorities for SP action plans Short
term)
14. www.nhs.uk14 |
4.8 Delivery Plan – Suicide Prevention and
Reduction, and Bereavement Support
KPI Ask for STPs/ICSs (regions to support and enable) Resources
Deliver against multi-agency suicide
prevention plans, working towards a
national 10% reduction in suicides by
2020/21. This includes working closely with
mental health providers to ensure plans are
in place for a zero-suicide ambition for
mental health inpatients
…we will put in place suicide bereavement
support for families and staff working in
mental health crisis services in every area of
the country… NHS Long Term Plan
1. Refresh STP-wide multi-agency suicide prevention plans bringing
together local authority-based action plans and wider MH transformation
ensuring robust links across, at a minimum, the core defined partners in
public health, primary care and secondary care (and wider agencies).
2. Work to progress against these plans including where possible locally
set trajectories for reduction of STP suicide rate and reduction of mental
health inpatient suicides to zero. If receiving additional funds in 2019/20,
use in line with allocation plans.
3. As part of the Long Term Plan, undertake preparation work to mobilise
new or expanded bereavement support services. This means working
closely with partners to ensure:
• Local real time surveillance in place or under development, with
alternatives in place, such as “real time referral” that allows a
proactive response and contact with a family within 72 hours;
• Undertaking work to ensure strong multi-agency working and plans
are in plan (as per actions above);
• Local mapping of existing, proactive Suicide Bereavement
Services; and of the existing range of local health and voluntary
sector partners for referral of practical and emotional support; and
• Identifying key contacts who can provide strong, experienced
leadership.
• National Guidance: Suicide
Prevention - developing a
local action plan
• Quality pointers for zero
suicide ambition plans
available on request
• Suicide Prevention National
Transformation Programme
website
Bereavement Support:
• Support After a Suicide: A
Guide to Providing Local
Services
• Developing and Delivering
Local Bereavement
Support Services
• Evaluating Local
Bereavement Services
• Help is at Hand: Support
After Someone May Have
Died by Suicide – Booklet
and z-card
Mental Health Delivery Plan
2019-2020
15. www.nhs.uk
Suicide reduction
• Suicide reduction will remain a NHS priority
• Full coverage across the country of the existing suicide reduction
programme
• This will be further supported by the design and roll out of a Mental
Health Safety Improvement Programme with a focus on suicide
prevention and reduction for mental health inpatients
• Use of decision support tools to increase our ability to deliver
personalised care and predict future behaviour, such as risk of
self harm or suicide
Bereavement support
• For families and staff bereaved by suicide , who are likely to have
experienced extreme trauma and are at heightened risk of crisis
themselves, which will be rolled out to all areas of the country
Self harm
• There will be a new approach to the longer term management of
self harm
15
NHS Long Term Plan- suicide
prevention & reduction ambitions ( by 2023/4)
24. www.nhs.uk
Strategy into Action – developing a shared action plan
Workshops
Workshop Room
1 The Zero Suicide Ambition Connect Room
level 2
2 Engaging with and supporting high risk
groups- learning from a wave 1 Suicide
Prevention sites
495
3 The role of primary care in suicide prevention 496
4 Suicide bereavement support Main room
5 High Risk Environments Main Room