Rate of self-harm presentations at hospitals fell during spring lockdown

A total of 4,923 self-harm presentations were recorded at 19 hospitals between January and August, a rate of 20.2 per day. Stock picture: Pexels

New provisional data indicates there was a surge in the number of people presenting at hospitals having self-harmed last February –but that the rates then fell in March and April.

The data, to be presented today by the National Suicide Research Foundation based on its National Self-Harm Registry, covers the first eight months of the year and shows that "overall, the rate of hospital-presenting self-harm in January-August 2020 was similar to the rate in the same eight months of 2018-2019", with "no increase in the incidence of hospital-presenting self-harm since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Ireland".