HSE aims to make specialist suicide crisis nurses available to GPs countrywide

Mental Health Minister Mary Butler said funding from Budget 2022 has been allocated to recruit six additional SCAN nurses across four mental health services. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins 

The HSE aims to make suicide crisis assessment nurses available to all GPs across Ireland, as part of a revised model which seeks to provide more crisis support in primary care settings, rather than emergency departments.

Almost half of all presentations (47%) to emergency departments between 2018 and 2020 were due to suicidal ideation.