Most self-harm incidents involve overdose

Two thirds of self-harm cases seen in hospital emergency departments last year involved an overdose, according to new data. 

The statistics were published ahead of World Mental Health Day, which takes place today, and to coincide with a major conference on suicide being held in Westport in Co Mayo.

As reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, there was a 6% fall last year in the number of cases of self-harm presenting to emergency departments (EDs).

The figures, compiled for the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm, shows there were 11,061 recorded presentations to hospital due to self-harm nationally, with the rate of individuals presenting to hospital following deliberate self-harm at 199 per 100,000 of population.

Some 61% of patients were assessed by a member of the mental health team in the hospital, with almost 70% of patients discharged from the ED provided with a referral for treatment elsewhere.

Alcohol was a factor in 37% of cases, with a higher rate among men, with the hours around midnight the most likely to feature presentations in EDs. Some 67% of episodes last year involved a drug overdose.

The registry identified that 82% of patients who had a history of five or more previous acts of self-harm engaged in repeated acts of self-harm in the three months following their last act of self-harm.

Ivan Perry, director of the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm and Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCC, said: “The rates of self-harm vary markedly and consistently in different parts of the country and are connected with deprivation and social exclusion.”

Ella Arensman, director of research, National Suicide Research Foundation, said information from the Registry had informed priorities for the new National Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention in Ireland, 2015-2019, to be completed by the end of the year.

The NOSP Annual Report for 2013 outlined how €4.9m in funding was provided to 31 NGOs as well as €400,000 directly to community organisations in the Community Resilience Fund to resource local programmes and services.

The two-day conference in Westport, organised by the Irish Association of Suicidology, is hearing from a range of experts, including Anne Cleary, School of Sociology University College Dublin, on ‘The Wellbeing of Rural Men’.

She said there was fragmentation is terms of providing support services to men in rural areas, and in an environment where “success stories” are perceived to be those who have moved away, either to education or work elsewhere.

Speaking at yesterday’s conference, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government wanted to “build a new and up-to-date framework so we can improve the delivery and co-ordination of services on the ground”.

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