News > Preventing avoidable deaths

Created: 2007-01-08 12:24:50

As a new report highlights the number of suicides by mental health patients, SANE promises to continue fighting for a better balance between rights and risk.

According to a National Patient Safety Agency report published in December 2006 there are 1300 suicides by mental health patients each year. The most recent five-year report of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, Avoidable Deaths, revealed that in the week prior to death, 49 per cent of patients were seen by mental health services, although only 14 per cent were thought to be at risk of suicide.

27 per cent of in-patient deaths occurred while the patient was off the wards without permisison. Of those following discharge from hospital, 15 per cent occurred in the first week and 22 per cent before the first follow-up appointment.

"We have long expressed our concern at the numbers of people allowed to walk off wards or discharge themselves from hospital when still clearl in danger," says Marjorie Wallace, SANE's chief executive. "Whilst recognising the difficulty in assessing risk, we know that despite in hindsight all the red alerts flashing, simple action that could have save lives was not taken."

SANE believes that those making decisions about whether a patient should be allowed to leave hopsital can turn a collective blind eye to risks because of a reluctance to deny patients' short-term wishes and a failure to share critical information on grounds of confidentiality. Many deaths could be prevented if mental health services provided a more timely, effective response at critical times and listened to the warnings of families and carers. Yet a Healthcare Commission review in October 2006 found that over half of all patients being cared for in the community had no emergency contact number out of hours and nearly 60 per cent of services scored poorly in providing access to a place of safety in a time of crisis.

Suicides can be prevented. What is needed is a flexible 24-hour response to crisis and a change in culture to one that balances patients' rights against the risk they present to themselves and where families are heard and respected. SANE is seeking to work with services towards this goal and will continue to keep the tragedy of avoidable deaths as the top of the agenda.

For help in a crisis call SANEline on 0845 7678000.