Mental health patients are at the highest risk of suicide during the first two weeks after being discharged from the hospital, reveals a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Manchester.
The research, called the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, looked at mental health patient suicides in the UniteK over the course of a decade, from 2002 to 2012.
They noted that there were 3,225 suicide deaths among mental health patients between 2002 and 2012. All the deaths occurred within the first three months after patients were discharged from hospitals. Among these patients, 526 died within the first week of being released from the hospital.
"Our latest data shows the first three months after discharge remain the time of highest risk but especially in the first 1-2 weeks... so our recommendations are that careful and effective care planning is needed, including for patients before they are discharged and for those who self-discharge," said Professor Louis Appleby, Director of the National Confidential Inquiry. "Early follow-up appointments should be strengthened; and reducing the length of in-patient stay to ease pressure on beds should not be an aim in itself. Instead, health professionals should ensure the adverse events that preceded the admission have been addressed."
The most shocking findings were that 24 of the deaths were patients who had been restrained by hospital staff just 24 hours prior to release. Because of this, the researchers declared that suicides within three days of discharge, as well as deaths and serious injuries from restraint, should be deemed National Health Service "never events," meaning that they must be recorded and staff superiors must be notified.
Unfortunately, suicide isn't the only issue mental health patients face upon leaving the hospital. Like many prison inmates who have a difficult time adjusting to life outside the prison walls, so too do mentl health patients. Last year, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) announced that their resources continued to be strained due to the practice of premature hospital; in fact many patients went on to commit crimes. Another survey from earlier this year also found that mental health patients are more likely to end up in a prison than in a hospital. Many of them went on to commit homicides on their partners.
"Mental health services need to recognize their role in preventing domestic violence," said Professor Jenny Shaw, head of homicide research on the CACP inquiry. "We need to improve the mental health of perpetrators to protect victims."
