North-East remains one of the worst blackspots for suicide blamed on a combination of unemployment and drugs.

10:29 suicides 0 Comments

Figures due to be presented to Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust board on Tuesday show that patient suicides have soared from four in 2004-5 to 35 in 2007-8.
The largest increase was among patients living in the community rather than hospital residents.So-called community suicides rose tenfold, from three in 2004-5 to 31 in 2007-8Inpatient suicides also showed a slight increase, from one in 2004-5 to four in 2007-8.The figures are revealed as part of list of what are known as Serious Untoward Incidents, which were recorded by the trust before and after the merger of the County Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust and Tees and North-East Yorkshire Trust to form the bigger trust two years ago.While suicide rates among the general population in the UK reached a 30-year low in 2005, the North-East remains one of the worst blackspots.Some experts have blamed the region's high general suicide rate on a combination of unemployment and drugs.Health bosses in Teesside and County Durham have seen some improvements since introducing projects to try to reduce the death toll from suicides.A study in 2005 found that while two-thirds of suicides on Teesside have a psychiatric diagnosis of either schizophrenia or depression, only 28 per cent had been in contact with mental health services before their death.Board members will be told that measures are being taken to try to ensure that "timely investigations"can be made to head off potential suicides.
New checks have been carried out to ensure that nothing in the trust's hospitals can be used to help patients take their own lives.A spokeswoman for the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust said: "This is a serious issue. While we were pleased that the most recent figures were below the national average, we must continue to do all we can to prevent suicides. We are currently working with healthcare colleagues in the North-East to review all suicides and to see what lessons we can learn."