New Script for Mental Health campaigners have called for action to be taken immediately to address what they describe as an unacceptable public health emergency, created due to the rising number of suicides being reported in Northern Ireland, and which the Northern Ireland Executive Draft Programme for Government makes no recommendations for tackling.
Figures released by NISRA (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) recently show a significant rise in deaths by suicide in 2023.
In the Registrar General’s Annual Report, Northern Ireland is reported as having experienced an 8% increase in deaths by suicide, from 203 in 2022 to 221 in 2023. Disturbingly, 171 of these deaths were male.
The rate of death in deprived communities is over three times higher than the regional average with the failure to adequately resource suicide prevention having devastating consequences in every city and town across NI. In England and Wales, suicides in 2023 reached their highest since 1999.
There is no evidence from the Department of Health that the current Protect Life 2 Strategy is working, nor does it target resources in line with objective need and yet it has been extended for another three years without any political scrutiny. Even though it is estimated that 60,000 people are affected by suicide every year here and suicide behaviours and/or attempts could be up to 22,100.
Sara Boyce, New Script for Mental Health Organiser with Participation and the Practice of Rights said:
“These figures are deeply concerning and should be ringing alarm bells across the entire NI Executive. Instead of a reduction in what are preventable rather than inevitable deaths, we are seeing a sharp rise. We know that the impact on families of losing loved ones to suicide is devastating.
“These deaths also have a much wider societal impact, with an estimated 60,000 people affected each year. Time and time again, it is local communities and organisations who are the ones doing vital lifesaving work, with little or no resources or support.
“In early 2020, families bereaved by suicide, supported by over 300 high profile public figures and organisations, called on the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer to treat suicide as a public health emergency and to show decisive leadership to turn it around. Sadly, those calls were ignored.
“As it stands, although actions in Protect Life 2, the Suicide Prevention Strategy, are known to be effective in preventing suicide, it lacks ambition, resourcing, clear targets, measurable outcomes and evidence of its impact.
“The Department of Health must now bring a sense of urgency and priority to ensure we have a suicide prevention strategy that is fit for purpose with robust accountability mechanisms. The Executive also needs to ensure that the Programme for Government includes a focus on suicide prevention, as well as on the drivers of suicide, such as poverty, inequality and discrimination. Suicide is preventable, but not without real commitment and action. People’s lives depend on it.”
The Registrar General’s Annual Report 2023 published by NISRA, includes figures on overall number of deaths and a gender breakdown. A final report on suicide deaths in NI is planned for early 2025, with further analysis by age, geography, and administrative areas.
Pat McGreevy, a spokesperson for Suicide Down to Zero, a charity based in Downpatrick, said:
“We are appalled but sadly not surprised by this increase in suicide deaths in 2023. The Protect Life 2 Strategy & Action Plan, in its current form, is very unlikely to prevent suicide deaths to any significant degree. Currently the Strategy is not accompanied by a target for reduction in suicide deaths.
“In light of the 221 deaths recorded for 2023, it seems to us that government should consider scrapping this strategy. A new plan with a zero target and robust accountability arrangements is urgently needed. Suicide, after all, is preventable not inevitable."
New Script for Mental Health has launched Give 5: Steps to a Wellbeing Rights Framework. The human rights framework is grounded on United Nations and World Health Organisation human rights standards and highlights essential steps for mental good health. In advocating for change.
Give 5 calls for mental health solutions that go beyond medication. The five elements are Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give People dignity.
“Therapy, openness, honesty and accountability are essential,” adds Sara. “Above all we need to listen to people.”
The five, inter-connected elements of the Give 5 framework are as follows:
Connect the symptoms of ‘mental ill-health’ to their root causes.
Be active in challenging the overprescribing of antidepressants and in providing a wider range of community-based options for healing.
Take notice of and act on the knowledge and wisdom of people with first-hand experience.
Learn from failures in previous policy and practice and support people’s right to openness, honesty and accountability.
Giving people the dignity, compassion and hope to which they are entitled.
For more information on Give 5 and the work of New Script for Mental Health, please visit here.