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Showing results for tags 'Self harm/ suicide'.
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Content ArticleRisk assessments are a central component of mental health care. Few national studies have been done in the UK on risk assessment tools used in mental health services. In this study, Graney et al. aimed to examine which suicide risk assessment tools are in use in the UK; establish the views of clinicians, carers, and service users on the use of these tools; and identify how risk assessment tools have been used with mental health patients before suicide.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of the US Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals is to improve patient safety. The goals focus on problems in healthcare safety in the USA and how to solve them. They include identifying patients correctly, improving staff communication, use medicine safely, use alarms safely, prevent infection, identify patient safety risks and prevent mistakes in surgery.
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Content ArticleMany risks faced by patients in acute mental health settings are similar to those that occur in other areas of healthcare, for example medication errors and cross-infection. In addition, however, there are unsafe behaviours associated with serious mental health problems, including violence and self-harm; the measures taken to address these, such as restraint or seclusion, may result in further risks to patient safety. This article by Catherine Gilliver in the Nursing Times discusses the need for a physical and psychosocial environment in which staff, patients and visitors feel recognised and valued.
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Content ArticleWhen Giancarlo Gaglione’s brother, Lanfranco, died by suicide at the age of 26, it came like a lightning bolt out of the blue. None of his family or friends had noticed anything different about him leading up to the moment he took his own life, and he only confided briefly, a week before, in two people: his best friend and his girlfriend. In this article, the World Health Organization (WHO) focuses on how masculinity norms can discourage men from recognising and seeking help for mental health problems. A new Health Evidence Network (HEN) report on Mental health, men, and culture, launched by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, gives concrete recommendations on how policy-makers can address certain mental health issues arising from traditional patterns of masculinity.
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News Article
CQC orders staffing and safety improvements at trust scrutinised over deaths
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A mental health trust has been told to make ‘urgent improvements’ by regulators after a fourth inpatient death occurred with similar themes to three other patients dying within 12 months. The warning, issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to Devon Partnership Trust, was made after an unannounced inspection at the trust’s Langdon Hospital – following the death of a patient who died by suspected suicide in July. Last week HSJ revealed how the death was the fourth inpatient death within the last 12 months at the trust, with each incident having recurring themes. The latest death happened at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish, on one of the trust’s medium secure wards (Ashcombe), with the patient using a ligature point. It was a similar incident to another serious incident in May on a different ward (Holcombe) at the hospital, and it prompted the inspection from the CQC in mid-August. While the death remains under investigation by the trust, early details shared with the CQC reveal that the incident happened in an area of the ward which had been changed to an “isolation area” under the trust’s COVID-19 infection prevention strategy. However, this meant there were not “good lines of sight” for staff monitoring patients – according to the CQC’s inspection report. There were also “low staffing levels on the wards”, according to staff which spoke to the CQC. The staff also told inspectors they were “stressed, exhausted and burnt out following the demands of the pandemic”. According to the CQC, some staff had concerns about areas on the ward where patients had “unrestricted access to items including sports equipment that could be used as weapons for self-harm”. Although the ward’s ligature assessment claimed those areas were always supervised by staff, this was disputed by the staff themselves, the report said. Read full story Source: HSJ, 3 November 2020- Posted
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News ArticleA fourth suspected suicide has occurred at a mental health trust which was recently warned by the Care Quality Commission after three other similar inpatient deaths in quick succession, HSJ can reveal. All four deaths at Devon Partnership Trust had common themes, including the use of ligatures, and occurred amid a year-long delay to the trust’s plan to reduce ligature risks. Figures obtained by HSJ under freedom of information laws also reveal the trust took nearly a year to investigate the first two deaths. The target is 90 days. The trust told HSJ it had faced “humongous” problems addressing ligature risks and had been too “patient” with another trust which was helping to investigate the deaths. Read full story (paywallled) Source HSJ, 27 October 2020
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News Article
Covid: Lockdown had 'major impact' on mental health
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Lockdown had a major impact on the UK's mental health, including increased rates of suicidal thoughts, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Glasgow, examined the effects of COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic. Certain groups are said to be particularly at risk, including young people and women. This publication is the most detailed examination of how the UK's adult population coped during the first weeks of lockdown, when people were given strict orders to stay home. Researchers say public health measures, like lockdowns, are necessary to protect the general population, but warn they may have a "profound and long-lasting" effect on mental health and will extend beyond those who have been affected by the virus. The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, looked at three blocks of time between March 31 and May 11. Just over 3,000 adults in the UK were surveyed and a range of mental health factors were considered, including depression, loneliness, suicide attempts and self-harm. The study found suicidal thoughts increased from 8% to 10% and they were highest among young adults (18-29 years), rising from 12.5% to 14%. The researchers say that, even though those are relatively small rises, they are significant because of the short period of time they happened over. "The majority of people did not report any suicidal thoughts, but this creeping rise over a very short period of time is a concern," says Prof Rory O'Connor, chair in health psychology at the University of Glasgow's Institute of Health and Wellbeing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 October 2020 -
Content ArticleThis report from the Samaritans finds that there is no consistently effective support available to people who self-harm. The research identified four key support needs for people who self-harm, which are seen as essential to providing effective care: distraction from immediate self-harm urges emotional relief in times of stress developing alternative coping strategies addressing the underlying reasons for self-harm.
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Content ArticleIn this blog for the Guardian, a well respected surgeon tells of the time they were admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital where they worked following a suicide attempt. The surgeon explains how depression is a lot more common in medicine than realised but how it is still stigmatised, even within the medical profession. Many medical staff often display signs of depression differently to others and keep working right up until they break; work brings comfort from the feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness. Very few have the opportunity to attend counselling, since this would require taking time off work. "I would be smiling and laughing on the outside, but on the inside was a continuous mantra of self-loathing that kept getting louder. I pushed myself harder, took extra shifts, tried to put my head down and just get through it. One day, I had had enough. The pain had become physical as well as mental, and the idea of having to live any longer was unbearable."
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Content Article
Suicide by female nurses: a brief report (June 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Staff safety
This report, authored by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH), was commissioned by NHS England/NHS Improvement in response to a report by the Office for National Statistics that identified female nurses as having a risk of suicide 23% above the risk in women in other occupations. This was a brief study aimed to establish preliminary data about women who died by suicide while employed as nurses. To do this, NCISH carried out an examination of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on female nurses who died by suicide during a six-year period (2011-2016) was carried out with a detailed analysis of female nurse suicides using the NCISH database of people who died by suicide within 12 months of mental health service contact, including comparison with other female patients.- Posted
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Content ArticleIn the UK and Ireland men are three to four times more likely to die by suicide than women. Research also tells us that men who are less well-off and living in the most deprived areas are up to 10 times more likely to die by suicide than more well-off men from affluent areas .Middle-aged men in the UK and Ireland also experience higher suicide rates than other groups, a fact that has persisted for decades. The Samaritans carried out in-depth ethnographic interviews with 16 less well-off middle aged men across the UK and Ireland to find out the challenges they faced and the events which lead them to crisis point. The study explored what these men said worked for them when they came into contact with with support services. This is the first of two connected reports. The second report, due to be released later in 2020, will set out recommendations of how services can effectively engage and support men earlier in their lives, before they reach crisis
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News Article
Lockdown: Suicide fears soar in LGBT community
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
There has been a significant rise during lockdown in the UK in the number of LGBT people seeking suicide-prevention support. Support group LGBT Hero reports 11,000 people have accessed its suicide-prevention web pages - up over 44% on the first three months of the year. The government considers LGBT people to be at higher risk of suicide but no national data on LGBT suicides is kept. In total, eight charities told BBC News they had seen an increase in LGBT people accessing their support for suicide prevention. The LGBT Foundation has received more calls about suicide "than ever before". Gavin Boyd, of The Rainbow Project, based in Northern Ireland, said: "In just the last three weeks, we know of three LGBT people who have ended their lives." And another chief executive of a charity, in the south of England, who did not want to be named in case it affected its funding, said: "We know of two young LGBT people in the past two weeks. We're under more pressure to deliver than ever before. The government has done absolutely nothing to help regional LGBT charities cope with the demand from our already struggling service users." Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 July 2020 -
Content Article
'False negative' and the impact on my mental health
Anonymous posted an article in Blogs
The following blog was shared by a patient who wished to remain anonymous. In this account, they explain why they felt they were treated differently when they presented with symptoms of Covid-19 due to their mental health difficulties. They also describe how receiving a false negative test result caused further harm to their mental health.- Posted
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Content Article
Zero Suicide Alliance
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Suicide and self-harm
The Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) is a collaboration of National Health Service trusts, charities, businesses and individuals who are all committed to suicide prevention in the UK and beyond. -
News ArticleFollowing a doctor’s suicide, a petition is calling for the GMC to take responsibility for the wellbeing of those under its investigation. Read full story (paywalled) Source: Pulse, 25 February 2020
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News Article
BMA must continue to oppose assisted suicide
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The British Medical Association (BMA) should not allow itself to become a campaign tool for vested interest groups seeking a dangerous change in the law, writes Dr Matthew Davis in the Guardian. "Doctors have a responsibility to first do no harm... Even when it may feel uncomfortable, doctors must continue to exercise their Hippocratic duty", says Dr Davies. "The BMA must remain opposed to assisted suicide if the medical profession it claims to represent is to have any credibility in safe, caring and trustworthy expertise. It must not allow itself to become a campaign tool for vested interest groups seeking an extreme and dangerous change in the law that has, even very recently, been rejected by parliament." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 February 2020 -
News Article
NHS "took 18 months to help after suicide attempt"
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Poor treatment and aftercare for people who self-harm or attempt suicide is putting their lives at risk, the Royal College of Psychiatrists says. Many patients treated in A&E for self-harm do not receive a full psychosocial assessment from a mental health professional to assess suicide risk. Simon Rose, who has attempted suicide many times, told BBC News it once took 18 months to receive aftercare. NHS England said reducing suicide rates was an "NHS priority". Last year, UK suicide rates rose for the first time since 2013, with people born in the 1960s and 1970s being the most vulnerable. Experts are now calling for all self-harm patients to be offered a safety plan – an agreed set of bespoke activities and guidelines to help them deal with depressive episodes. Dr Huw Stone, who chairs the patients' safety group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said patients, especially those under 30, were being systematically let down in their most vulnerable state. "With hospital admissions for self-harming under-30s more than doubling in the last 10 years, there has never been a more important time to ensure patients are getting the care that they need," he said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 February 2020 -
News Article
Number of self-harm incidents in prisons reaches record high
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Levels of self-harm in prisons have hit a new high, with more than 60,000 incidents in a year, official figures show. The number of self-harm incidents was up 16% to 61,461 in the 12 months to September 2019, when there were 53,076, according to data released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Prison reform campaigners have criticised the government for failing to respond effectively to serious mental health problems and called Thursday’s figures a “national scandal”. Deborah Coles, the Director of the charity Inquest, said: “Despite investment and scrutiny, the historical context shows that still more people are dying in prison than ever before. A slight recent reduction in the number of deaths comes alongside unprecedented levels of self-harm, while repeated recommendations of coroners, the prison ombudsman and inspectorate are systematically ignored." "This is a national scandal and reflects the despair and neglect in prisons. Despite this, the health and safety of people in prison appears to be very low on the agenda of the new government." Read full story Source: 30 January 2020 -
Content ArticleSuicide 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.
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Content Article
Suicide amongst anaesthetists 2019
Claire Cox posted an article in Staff safety
Anaesthetists are thought to be at increased risk of suicide amongst the medical profession. The aims of the following guidelines written by the Association of Anaesthetists are: increase awareness of suicide and associated vulnerabilities, risk factors and precipitants; to emphasise safe ways to respond to individuals in distress, both for them and for colleagues working alongside them; and to support individuals, departments and organisations in coping with a suicide.- Posted
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Content ArticleIn 2018/19, ten people died each week following release from prison. Every two days, someone took their own life. In the same year, one woman died every week, and half of these deaths were self-inflicted. This report, co-authored by Dr Jake Phillips of Sheffield Hallam University and Rebecca Roberts of INQUEST, provides an overview of what is known about the deaths of people on post custody supervision following release from prison. It highlights the lack of visibility and policy attention given to this growing problem and calls for immediate action to ensure greater scrutiny, learning and prevention.
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News ArticleA quarter of children referred for specialist mental health care because of self-harm, eating disorders and other conditions are being rejected for treatment, a new report has found. The study by the Education Policy Institute warns that young patients are waiting an average of two months for help, and frequently turned away. It follows research showing that one in three mental health trusts are only accepting cases classed as the most severe. GPs have warned that children were being forced to wait until their condition deteriorated - in some cases resulting in a suicide attempt - in order to get to see a specialist. Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 10 January 2020
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Content ArticlePatients in inpatient mental health settings face similar risks (eg, medication errors) to those in other areas of healthcare. In addition, some unsafe behaviours associated with serious mental health problems (eg, self-harm), and the measures taken to address these (eg, restraint), may result in further risks to patient safety. The objective of this review, published in BMJ Open, is to identify and synthesise the literature on patient safety within inpatient mental health settings using robust systematic methodology.
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Content Article
Family reference group: INQUEST
Claire Cox posted an article in Patient stories
INQUEST is a charity providing expertise on state related deaths and their investigation to bereaved people, lawyers, advice and support agencies, the media and parliamentarians. Their specialist casework includes deaths in police and prison custody, immigration detention, mental health settings and deaths involving multi-agency failings or where wider issues of state and corporate accountability are in question. What is the Family Reference Group? The INQUEST Family Reference Group is made up of people directly affected by a contentious death (i.e. in detention/custody, where a state body is involved, or where the facts are disputed). It supports and contributes to INQUEST's work from a family perspective. The reference group brings together a range of experiences, taking into consideration race and gender perspectives, types of deaths across custody, immigration detention and mental health care.- Posted
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Content Article
INQUEST: Skills and support toolkit
Claire Cox posted an article in Prison setting
The INQUEST Skills and Support Toolkit is a resource for families and friends dealing with the aftermath of a death in custody and detention. The skills toolkit has been directed by the thoughts and experiences of INQUEST’s family reference group. The group includes a number of families whose relative has died in police custody or following police contact, prison custody, an immigration removal centre and a psychiatric setting.- Posted
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