Citation

Barr W, Leitner M, Thomas JC. J. Psychiatr. Ment. Health Nurs. 2005; 12(2): 130-138.

Affiliation

Research Fellow, Health and Community Care Research Unit, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2850.2004.00804.x

PMID

15788029

Abstract

It has been recommended that all patients attending hospital accident and emergency departments in the United Kingdom (UK) with self-harm should be offered adequate psychosocial assessment to identify those at risk of completed suicide or repeated self-harm. This paper focuses on the extent to which this recommendation has been implemented in a large district general hospital in Wales, and compares the characteristics and hospital management of patients who received no specialist assessment with those who were assessed by a psychiatric liaison nurse or a psychiatrist. Data were routinely collected as part of the hospital annual audit procedure and confirm previous findings that guidelines for the general hospital management of self-harm patients have not been well implemented. Whilst we found some evidence that certain high risk patient groups were more likely to receive specialist assessment, this was far from universal. We conclude that if there is to be a reduction in the rate of suicide in Wales and the UK as a whole, it is crucial that services for people who self-harm are more appropriately targeted on patients who are at greatest risk.