North is labelled suicide hotspot
Feb 14 2008 by William Green, The Journal
HUNDREDS of people in the North East are taking their own lives every year, shocking figures have revealed.
More than 1,200 people have committed suicide in the region and more than 20,000 in England since 2002, and the figures do not include children under 15, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The level of people taking their lives has dropped but the North East has the highest death rate due to suicide and undetermined injuries – where coroners do not record death as suicide – of the nine English regions.
Last night, the news sparked fresh calls from experts and a North MP for action to ensure health services are able to respond fast enough to “red alert” signs to prevent people from committing suicide.
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity SANE, said: “While the suicide rate has not risen, we believe there are many deaths that could be prevented if doctors and others responded more quickly. We now know a great deal about why and when people commit suicide.”
She added the most vulnerable time was within the first two days and then the first two weeks after a patient had been discharged from hospital.
“Yet nearly a quarter of those who commit suicide after being discharged from hospital do so before the first outpatient appointment or visit of the mental health team. And our own findings show that 80% of people with suicidal thoughts or plans who ring our helpline had visited their doctor within the previous four weeks.
“It is extraordinary that mental health services still fail to respond to the ‘red alert’ signs. We call on doctors and others to reach out proactively to contact people at risk before they reach such a point of loneliness and despair that they see suicide as their only future.”
Cumbrian MP Tim Farron, who uncovered the figures from the Government, also called for action over the “appalling” death toll after revealing that a close friend from Newcastle University days took his own life.
In 2002, 239 deaths where suicide was the underlying cause were recorded in the North East and that number rose to 272 and 295 in the following two years. It dropped to 242 in 2005 and 228 in 2006.
“Mental health services are very often the Cinderella services and the people who use those services are the ones who are very often least able to speak out for themselves,” said Mr Farron. The Liberal Democrat, who represents Westmorland and Lonsdale, expressed concerns that pressures of modern life, from personal debt to certain lifestyle expectations, drove people to suicide.
Emily Wooster, from mental health charity Mind, said there were complex reasons behind suicide but stressed that while many people experienced suicidal thoughts at some point, most worked through it with the right help.
She said outreach services had improved, but warned of a gap in crisis provision that left people struggling to find support outside office hours in parts of the country.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the overall suicide rate among the general population was at its lowest ever level and among the lowest in Europe.
She expressed confidence that a target to cut suicides by at least a fifth by 2010 would be met, with an expansion of psychological therapies and tackling stigma associated with mental illness.
