Progress on suicide prevention
January 31, 2014
The first annual report on England’s cross-government suicide prevention strategy, Preventing Suicide in England: One Year On, emphasizes the importance of an immediate and high-quality response to individuals who are practicing self-harm. Around half of the approximately 4,500 people who died by suicide in England in 2012 had a history of self-harm. For the first time, hospitals will begin to publish annually the number of people who visit emergency rooms for self-harm, and whether such patients received a psychological assessment. The report also includes a joint statement on information-sharing, issued by the government and professional health care associations. The statement advocates for better communication between health care providers and families, so that when a person is suicidal, all who are working to help can have the information they need.
Spark Extra! Read the Information Sharing and Suicide Prevention Consensus Statement