@article{ref1,
title="Suicide in mental health in-patients and within 3 months of discharge: National clinical survey",
journal="British journal of psychiatry",
year="2006",
author="Meehan, Janet and Kapur, Navneet and Hunt, Isabelle M. and Turnbull, Pauline and Robinson, Jeff and Bickley, Harriet and Parsons, Rebecca and Flynn, Sandra Marie and Burns, J. and Amos, T. and Shaw, Jon and Appleby, Louis",
volume="188",
number="",
pages="129-134",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Suicide prevention is a health service priority. Suicide risk may be greatest during psychiatric in-patient admission and following discharge. AIMS: To describe the social and clinical characteristics of a comprehensive sample of in-patient and post-discharge cases of suicide. METHOD: A national clinical survey based on a 4-year (1996-2000) sample of cases of suicide in England and Wales who had been in recent contact with mental health services (n=4859). RESULTS: There were 754 (16%) current in-patients and a further 1100 (23%) had been discharged from psychiatric in-patient care less than 3 months before death. Nearly a quarter of the in-patient deaths occurred within the first 7 days of admission; 236 (31%) occurred on the ward, the majority by hanging. Post-discharge suicide was most frequent in the first 2 weeks after leaving hospital; the highest number occurred on the first day. CONCLUSIONS: Suicide might be prevented among in-patients by improving ward design and removing fixtures that can be used in hanging. Prevention of suicide after discharge requires early community follow-up and closer supervision of high-risk patients.",
language="",
issn="0007-1250",
doi="10.1192/bjp.188.2.129",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.188.2.129"
}