New suicide surveillance system launched in England

Ministers have launched a new surveillance system to quickly identify emerging methods of suicide as part of an effort to clamp down on those seeking to sell dangerous products to vulnerable people.The system will use near to real time data1 from police forces across England showing deaths by suspected suicide by gender, age group, and method.The new system, which is backed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, is designed to support the pledge in the government’s national suicide prevention strategy to reduce the suicide rate in England within two and a half years.2Until now, the only national data available on suicide were from the Office for National Statistics, which could take up to two years to report. Under the new system data will be received from individual police forces in England and the government will get it within three months of a suspected suicide.Mental health minister Maria Caulfield said, “Every…
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