New services to treat thousands of people who present in hospital A&E units each year for deliberate self-harm will form part of the Government's 10-year strategy to reduce the number of people who take their own lives.
Reach Out - the National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention was published yesterday at a time of mounting concern over suicide, which was responsible for 457 deaths last year. Hospitals recorded more than 11,000 cases of attempted self-harm over the same period.
The strategy aims to reduce the number of people who take their own life through measures aimed at the general population such as positive mental health awareness programmes, education and support services. It also seeks to target at-risk groups such as young men, prisoners and people who harm themselves - who statistically are at a much higher risk of taking their own life - through more assertive intervention.
Minister for Health Mary Harney yesterday announced that a national office for suicide prevention will be established immediately within the Health Service Executive, as reported in The Irish Times earlier this week. It will be headed by Geoff Day, former assistant chief executive at the North Eastern Health Board.
The office will co-ordinate, resource and administer the work of suicide prevention across the State.
Ms Harney said funding was being provided to allow for the immediate establishment of the office, new services to treat at-risk patients in A&E units and training of professionals.
She pledged the Government's commitment to whatever additional funding was needed to fully implement the strategy.
"Suicide is affecting more and more families in our community. It's now everyone's business and not just a matter for people affected by it."
The report does not set specific targets for reductions in suicide because of the number of undetermined deaths recorded in Ireland. However, Ms Harney said targets would form part of the strategy when sufficient research had been conducted.
While the 10-year blueprint sets out 20 key objectives, a number of recommendations will get under way immediately including the development of a national campaign to promote mental health, new bereavement support services and a national skills training programme.
The Minister of State responsible for mental health, Tim O'Malley, said a key principle of the strategy was to "reach out" to vulnerable groups, such as young men, who tend not to seek professional help when they face a personal crisis.
"It's a challenge to reach out to these young people, getting the message into places where they congregate and using different ways of communicating, such as mobile phones and the internet."
While Ireland's level of suicide is relatively normal by EU standards, we have the fifth-highest rate of suicide among young people.
Experts and voluntary groups, who have been campaigning for a more co-ordinated State response to dealing with suicide, yesterday broadly welcomed the strategy. However, many questioned whether sufficient funding would be produced to fully implement its recommendations.
Fine Gael's deputy spokesman on health, Dan Neville, said adequate funding was needed as otherwise the report would simply "gather dust".
He added: "We urge the Government on this occasion to provide the necessary resources to implement today's recommendations. Otherwise, the strategy will gather dust and the prevention office will be ineffectual."
