12,000 treated after suicide bids each year

UP to 12,000 Irish people receive hospital treatment after attempting suicide each year, a Government-funded report shows.

The National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF) has completed a report into attempted suicides, to be launched in September. It shows that in five sample health board areas, 5,000 people visited A&E departments after trying to commit suicide.

NSRF deputy director Paul Corcoran said these five health boards cover just 50% of the population, and don’t include deprived urban areas, where the suicide rate is up to four times as high as rural areas. Mr Corcoran said the NSRF report will put the real national figure at up to 12,000.

International research shows one in three people who commit suicide have previously attempted to kill themselves, while those who attempt suicide are 20 times more likely to ultimately kill themselves.

The NSRF annual report will be launched by Health Minister Micheál Martin in September. It will show 4,329 incidences of parasuicide (attempted suicide) were logged last year of which:

520 were in the Midland Health Board.

966 in the Midwestern Health Board.

744 in the North Eastern Health Board.

1,043 in the South Eastern Health Board.

1,056 in the Southern Health Board.

Twelve NSRF data collectors are scouring hospital records in all health boards and will have data for 95% of the country by the end of this year, Mr Corcoran said.

The organisation’s annual report shows while women are more likely to attempt suicide, more men take their own lives.

People aged between 15 and 24 are most at risk, with the vast majority taking drug overdoses and others cutting themselves.

Irish Association of Suicidology secretary Dr John Connolly said more resources need to be targeted at education programmes to remove the stigma attached to suicide and psychiatric illness. He also warned the NSRF figures were conservative. “They can only record the people who go to hospital. I suspect those who present for treatment are just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

A spokesman for Minister Martin said resource officers have been appointed in all health boards to implement the National Suicide Task Force’s recommendations. Between 1999 and 2001, almost 5m was spent on suicide prevention activities, with a further 1.11m allocated this year.