Assembly debate on suicide prevention in Wales

Key points

• Welcoming the report: We welcomed the opportunity to respond to the Committees inquiry and their report, Everybody’s Business A report on suicide prevention in Wales. Our Policy Forum submitted a written response to the Committee’s inquiry in December 2017, Key actions to increase the effectiveness of suicide prevention in Wales which was endorsed by 12 organisations, including the Samaritans Cymru.
• Registered deaths in Wales from suicide: Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death in Wales. It’s the biggest killer of men under 50, the leading cause of death for people aged under 35 and one in four deaths from external causes among those aged 12- 17 are likely to have been through suicide. In 2017, there were 360 suicides in Wales, an increase of 11.9% between 2016 and 2017.
• Talk to Me 2: The NHS in Wales has welcomed the Welsh Government Strategy, Talk to Me 2 and Health Boards are adopting local approaches to increase the effectiveness of suicide prevention measures. The National Guidance on the Strategy has strong support at a local level. Health Boards recognise the challenges associated with obtaining high quality data around the most at-risk groups, however there is strong evidence that local action plans, particularly those targeted at improving access to primary care services have had positive results.
• Focusing on priority groups: While Health Boards do not hold information on the suicide risk of specific groups, there is strong evidence services across Wales are designed to focus on the priority groups in line with the Talk to Me 2 Strategy. These are defined as; middleaged men, older people over 65 with depression and co-morbid physical illness, adult prisoners, children and young people with a background of vulnerability, people in the care of mental health services including inpatients and people with a history of self-harm.
• Suicide is everybody’s business: Suicide is not a single task for any organisation. There are many complex factors involved in suicide risk and this emphasises the need for a collaborative approach across various sectors, specialists and Government.