The Director of Public Health provided a
verbal update on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, which
included the following:
- An update was
published on 11 September 2023 to the Suicide Prevention
Strategy. It was noted this was the
Government setting out a refreshed agenda nationally including
actions which were restating the commitment nationally.
- It was acknowledged
that suicide rates were not higher today than in 2012 when the
Government first launched strategy, however there had not been a
reduction and there were still some groups who were at higher
risk.
- In terms of the
actions for local government and the NHS arising from this refresh
of the national strategy, it was noted that there wasn't a huge
amount for to be done at this time.
- The Committee was
advised of the work locally of the integrated care system group
around suicide prevention and mental health and that BCP Council
had representatives on that group.
- It was highlighted
that locally work had been undertaken to develop an overarching
suicide prevention strategy for the Dorset system, with separate
plans and actions sitting under it for individual organisations and
that BCP Council had its own Suicide Prevention Plan which would be
refreshed for 2024.
- It was advised that
one of the big changes was around better quality and more timely
data around suspected deaths that that were potentially caused by
suicide and the impact this would have locally was highlighted to
the Committee. Some local work on near real time surveillance was
also detailed.
- Another major
advancement highlighted was the funding provided by NHS England to
local health systems for the provision of timely bereavement
support.
- The Committee was
advised of suspected clusters of suicides and how more timely data
would assist ensuring bereavement support and postvention support
was available.
- The Committee was
asked to consider a future integrated approach which ensure all
partners played a full role in addressing suicide prevention to
continue to build on the work already done.
- The Committee was
advised of the additional funding that came out with that strategy
for the voluntary community sector and that some bids had been
prepared locally to access some of that funding.
The Committee asked
questions regarding the verbal update, including:
- In response to a query
regarding the suicide data, the Board was advised of the current
position using near real time surveillance data collected by the
Police and developed into a national dashboard. It was noted
that not all reporting was currently complete, and it was
highlighted the data would not be available at a personal
level. The local work between Public Health and Dorset Police
was outlined which included notifications of sudden death where
suicide was suspected to ensure access to timely bereavement
support.
- In response to the
overarching plans, it was highlighted how the Integrated Care Board
ensured system working with a renewed commitment to updated plans
for each of the integrated care system organisations to ensure
there was a unified approach
- In response to the
funding being provided, the Board was advised that Public Health
was unsure of the amount which would be allocated to the BCP area,
as the closing dates for bids had not yet happened, however bids
were being worked on and once any funding was known, the Committee
could be informed. ACTION.
- The Chair advised
it was important for the Committee to keep this issue under review
and further scrutiny of the planed refresh of local action plans
should be bought back to the Committee at the appropriate time in
2024. ACTION.