What is this study?
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of contact with mental health services preceding suicide revealed that contact with services prior to suicide was found to be common and that contact with inpatient or outpatient mental health services before suicide seems to be increasing (Walby et al., 2018; Walsh et al., 2015).
When a death occurs within mental health services in Ireland, reporting occurs via 1) the Mental Health Commission (MHC), 2) the National Incident Management System (NIMS), operated by the State Claims Agency and the Health Services Executive (HSE).
The purpose of this study is to merge the datasets from the HSE and the MHC to learn about circumstances surrounding deaths by suicide in mental health services.
Project Aims
The main objectives of this study are:
- To assess the completeness of data collected by the MHC and HSE
- To review the circumstances surrounding deaths by suicide in mental health services