6% fall in self harm cases last year

The number of self harm cases presenting in hospitals fell by 6% last year, primarily due to a drop in cases involving middle-aged women and men.

The figures also indicate that while the rate of self-harming presentations in emergency departments has fallen for three years in a row, rates of self-harming among girls aged 16 and under continues to escalate.

Dr Siobhan MacHale, chairperson of the national clinical care programme for the management of self harm in the emergency department, said despite the fall in self-harming presentations last year, the rate of people injuring themselves in such a way was still higher than pre-recession 2007 levels.