Agenda item

(19:30-20:00)*

For the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise and review the BCP

Council Suicide Prevention Plan 2021-23.

The Portfolio Holder for Covid Resilience, Schools and Skills introduced the item and emphasised the sensitivity of the topic and encouraged the panel to feed into the policy development. A partnership approach had been undertaken between the health services, Dorset Council and BCP Council and it was hoped that the final iteration of the plan would be an all-member piece of work.

The Assistant Director of Dorset CCG explained the plan and spoke to the report. The main points were as follows:

·       The 2016 Crisis Care Concordat was a national agreement that people in mental health crisis deserved and should receive a higher level of care and support to prevent crises occurring. All statutory partnerships and organisations signed up to the Concordat. Under the Concordat, there had developed two deliverables. The first is the mental health acute care pathway, this has been fully implemented in BCP, along with a 24/7 crisis line. The second deliverable was in response to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy of 2017 and saw a partnership of work take place between SWAST, Dorset Police, the local Councils, voluntary community organisations and others. The work pulled down from the national strategy as it pertained to Dorset and BCP Council areas and received funding for 6 work streams.

·       Realtime surveillance information was also a new, up to date piece of information gathering that gave informative insight into deaths from  suicide and attempts by suicide across the BCP Council area

·       As a result of this, partners have been able to develop their respective plans and BCP Council has worked from the Pan-Dorset plan to develop their own in order to prevent the number of people who attempt suicide and die from suicide.

The Committee asked several questions following the presentation. Answers were provided by the Assistant Director of Dorset CCG. The questions and responses included:

·       A member emphasised that the cross-working element of the Plan was important and that signposting to correct and relevant services is crucial. The Committee heard that real-time information is key to enabling a targeted approach to trends and themes. This is a vital time to be doing work alongside the real-time surveillance information.

·       One member referred to point 7.1 in the report that stated 77% of people who die through suicide are not involved in any support programmes and therefore do not have any help in place. It was hoped that this plan would enable the Council to reach more people in crisis.

·       A member asked what support was available more widely for people that have been affected by suicide and may be dealing with bereavement. It was explained that a project called Open Door had been developed and was an offer that gives the individual access to relevant organisations. There was also a publication called Help is at Hand which was a free guide on Public Health England’s website and provides information on bereavement support services, funeral arrangements and other practical issues.

·       One member asked whether the real-time surveillance information tracked reasons for suicide attempts or deaths and whether this information would help prevention measures in future. The Committee were told that there was an overall sense that mental health issues were prominent, as well as substance misuse and relationship breakdowns however a lot of reasons and causes are still unknown. By the end of April 2021, the service would have a year’s worth of data that should give a good description of the situation and will enable workstreams to be adapted. Furthermore, Dorset Mind have started working with a group of men with a lived experience of suicide in order to better reach people in relevant areas.

·       A Committee member requested that there was an addition to the Plan to enable relevant officers to be involved if there were evidence based concerns about any particular physical location where redesign or remedial works might be considered as part of suicide prevention planning.  It was agreed that this would be a useful addition to the plan.

RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to receive a progress report on the Suicide Prevention Plan at an appropriate time during 2022.