The Prime Minister has announced £2 million in funding for
the Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) over the next 2 years. The
funding will help to reduce suicides across the NHS, with
the aim of achieving zero inpatient suicides.
It will be used to develop tools for the NHS and public and
private partners. The tools will focus on:
- training to prevent suicides
- improving safety
- ensuring lessons are learnt when suicides occur
The ZSA will also develop their digital suicide prevention
resource, capturing best practice and learning from across
the UK and abroad, and explore the use of analytics to
predict suicide risk.
This funding is in addition to the £25 million in suicide
prevention funding first announced in 2016. As part of that
investment, NHS England is working with mental health
trusts to implement zero suicide policies for inpatients
and improve safety on wards.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care said:
Every suicide is a preventable death and there’s so much
more we can do to reduce the number of people lost to it.
The Zero Suicide Alliance’s new training and awareness
tools will help health and care staff recognise the signs
and step in before it’s too late, as well ensuring
openness and transparency when suicides do occur.
On World Mental Health Day, this funding is a vital step
forward to help further reduce inpatient suicide and
underlines our commitment to bring down the number of
suicides everywhere.
Joe Rafferty, Chief Executive of Mersey Care NHS Foundation
Trust and one of the founder members of the Zero Suicide
Alliance, said:
Today’s announcement of government backing for the ZSA is
fantastic news for every person who has ever struggled
with suicidal thoughts and everyone left behind by
someone who has taken their own life. The ZSA believe
just one life lost is one too many.
The ZSA is already acting as a catalyst and focal point
for a broad range of suicide prevention activity across
the widest possible group of mutually supportive NHS and
partner organisations in this country. As part of this
work, the Alliance training, which we developed here at
Mersey Care, has now been taken by thousands of people
with each one of them now becoming equipped to engage
with those at risk.
Moving forward, this funding will enable us to broaden
our reach to include a range of options to ensure that
NHS response to suicide is the very best it can be
wherever you are when the need arises.
