Almost 11,500 people attended hospital for self-harm over a four-year period in the Dublin northeast region, it has emerged.
Figures released to Independent TD Tommy Broughan by the HSE showed 2,991 people presented to hospital emergency departments in 2012 for self-harming.
There were 2,709 self-harm presentations in 2013 to the seven hospitals in the Dublin northeast region. A further 2,878 individuals presented in 2014 and 2,916 people presented for self-harm incidents in 2015.
Mr Broughan said it was shocking and deeply upsetting that 11,494 people presented for self-harm over a four-year period in just one HSE region.
“We must ensure that support and resources are available to the tens of thousands of people experiencing mental health difficulties and times of despair before they reach a stage of inflicting physical pain upon themselves.”
The Dublin Bay North TD said, “These figures sadden me greatly and I welcome the Connecting for Life strategy to reduce suicide and self-harm rates.”
The HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention monitors and co-ordinates the implementation of the five-year strategy.
WHO targets
Connecting for Life was launched in June 2015 and adopts the World Health Organisation’s target to reduce suicide by 10 per cent by 2020.
The figures showed that of the total, 2,070 patients left hospital without being seen or refused to be seen. A further 2,002 patients were admitted to wards and 804 were admitted to psychiatric wards. The majority of patients – 6,618 – were not admitted.
Mr Broughan noted that of 4,869 people discharged from the emergency department, 23.2 per cent (1,131) were sent home with no follow-up, 11.6 per cent (564) were transferred to another psychiatric unit, 4.7 per cent (228) were transferred to another hospital, 28 per cent (1,371) were referred for an out-patient appointment and 12.1 per cent (590) were referred to a GP, 9.9 per cent (483) were referred to community-based mental health teams and 3.3 per cent (162) were referred to addiction services.
Mr Broughan highlighted the reduction in the number of people referred to community-based mental health teams from 483 in 2012 to just 77 by 2015.
In 2013 there were 297 such referrals and 109 in 2014.
Mr Broughan said, “I sincerely hope that political will gets behind the [Connecting for Life] strategy which has been in place for two years now and that we will begin to see reductions in these numbers” for self-harm.
