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Suicide awareness

Despite previous Congress debates and UK wide national initiatives on suicide, there remain significant gaps across services, with many registered nurses lacking knowledge and understanding around suicide – knowing what to do, when to share and when to step in.

With the addition of suicide and self-harm to the new NMC education standards, we want to see improvements across all nursing disciplines in suicide awareness, to include the confidence to share information in a timely way.

National policy and guidance

(2023). The Government has launched a national suicide prevention strategy. The five year plan outlines more than 100 measures to help save more lives going forward.

. This guideline covers ways to reduce suicide and help people bereaved or affected by suicides.

. This quality standard covers ways to reduce suicide and help people bereaved or affected by suicide. It also describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

The ¿ìèÊÓÆµ Mental health programme is a member of The National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) an alliance of public, private and voluntary organisations in England who care about suicide prevention and are willing to take individual and collective action to reduce suicide and support those bereaved or affected by suicide.

Further information about ¿ìèÊÓÆµ Suicide Awareness activity

This is a collaboration between the ¿ìèÊÓÆµ (¿ìèÊÓÆµ) and Public Health England to support and develop the role of nurses in the prevention of lesbian, gay and bisexual suicide.

¿ìèÊÓÆµ report: Understanding the factors underpinning suicidal ideation amongst the UK nursing workforce

The nursing community makes an invaluable contribution to identifying and caring for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, especially those at risk of, or experiencing suicidal thoughts. However, nursing staff themselves are considered a high risk group.

In September 2024, the ¿ìèÊÓÆµ released a report showing a rise in nursing staff with suicidal thoughts contacting the ¿ìèÊÓÆµ for support, with many citing workplace as a key factor. Suicide is a complex issue, but the ¿ìèÊÓÆµ says employers have a duty of care to provide a healthy working environment and the College is calling for a national set of standards to improve workplace culture, reduce stigma and encourage nursing staff to seek support when suffering from suicidal thoughts.

Find out more here: Number of nursing staff experiencing suicidal thoughts rises: health and social care employers must reduce work pressures.

What to do if you are suicidal

If you are feeling suicidal and