Draft suicide and self-harm prevention strategy: Welsh NHS Confederation response
Key points
Our members agree with the strategy's vision, but they have some suggestions to help improve the strategy such as more emphasis needed on engagement and support available particularly in secondary mental health services, not always inpatient.
In the strategy, more emphasis needed on suicide bereavement support for all affected and long-term funding.
Also, members suggested that the strategies should be separate i.e., a strategy for self-harm and a different one for suicide. There was a strong feeling that linking self-harm and suicide increases stigma and creates a false link between the two in the general population.
Ultimately, there is a clear need to distinguish between acts of suicide/ harm from suicidal intention and self-harm in the strategy.
The strategy sets out an overarching vision for suicide and self-harm in Wales, alongside six underpinning principles, six high-level objectives and a number of supporting objectives.
The strategy also aims to reduce the number and rates of suicide deaths that have endured over recent years. It also aims to establish a pathway to support people who self-harm and to improve support for those bereaved by suicide.
