The UK Government has launched a five-year National Suicide Prevention Strategy in England. Among the proposals are a national alert system to notify the likes of schools, universities, and charities of emerging methods of suicides and risks; and fresh guidance for first responders, covering new and emerging methods, and how to handle such incidents.
The Government has said it will work more closely with the police to use its data about ‘suspected’ suicides, as well as with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to get an indication of trends. The document sets out aims to reduce suicide rates; and improve support for people who have self-harmed, and for those bereaved by suicide. In a foreword, mental health minister Maria Caulfield described suicide as ‘everyone’s business and everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention’.
You can read the document on the gov.uk website.
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The cross-party Health and Social Care Committee of MPs’ chair Steve Brine said: “I welcome the Government’s target to reduce suicide rates with the new national strategy to provide help and support for people at a point where it can save lives and change futures.
“Our committee is particularly concerned at higher rates of suicide among men. Our wider inquiry into men’s health will try to find out what’s driving suicide rates here and what needs to be done about it. We’ll also be considering mental-health as part of our major inquiry into preventing ill-health.
“Ministers have recognised that underlying the strategy’s success is the need for a bigger mental health workforce. We’ll be monitoring the Government’s ambitious target to grow this workforce by nearly three-quarters by 2037.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Too many people are still affected by the tragedy of suicide, which is so often preventable. This national cross-government strategy details over 100 actions we’ll take to ensure anyone experiencing the turmoil of a crisis has access to the urgent support they need.
“It’s imperative we support people earlier to prevent them reaching the lowest point, while tackling emerging methods of suicide and eradicating harmful material online. We’re working at pace to achieve this, and we continue to invest billions of pounds to transform and improve our nation’s mental health services, and – most importantly – save lives.”
