Patient safety and suicide prevention in mental health services: time for a new paradigm?

Summary

Suicide is a major public health issue with more than 800,000 people taking their own lives worldwide per year. This loss of life has devastating effects on families and friends and the person’s wider network. Patients in contact with mental health services and those who present to hospital following self-harm are identified by national suicide prevention strategies as key target groups for reducing suicide rates. Despite decades of research into self-harm and suicide prevention, there are significant gaps between research, policy, and clinical practice.

In this editorial in the Journal of Mental Health, Quinlivan et al. discuss how adopting a patient safety paradigm can provide additional insights into suicidal behaviour in mental health services and generate new opportunities for suicide prevention.