The Annual Report on Suicide Prevention
Source: National Suicide Prevention Strategy For England – 2006 Report
In a generally optimistic report by the National Institute for Mental Health in England on the effort to reduce suicide in that nation by 20 per cent by 2010, there is a somber note about the role of noncompliance in suicide:
The Avoidable deaths report published last year estimated that 56 mental health patients discharged from hospital die every year following non-compliance with medication or loss of contact with services. Supervised Community Treatment, a measure to improve clinical risk management that the Government is introducing in its Mental Health Bill, has the potential to help prevent those deaths. Having a severe mental illness is a known risk factor of suicide and a significant number of suicides occur during in-patient care or shortly after discharge. Avoidable deaths showed around 200 suicides a year – or 14 per cent of all suicides – follow non-compliance with treatment. Better compliance with treatment and closer supervision were highlighted by clinicians as the main ways of reducing suicide risk.
Commentary
I’ve selected this as the focus of today’s post to serve as a dramatic reminder of the importance of compliance enhancement efforts.