Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 December 2016
145. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the extent to which follow up and early intervention is arranged in cases of children between the ages of eight and 14, presenting with suspected self-harm at accident and emergency centres throughout the country; if any sample cases have been taken, with a view to identifying and addressing the underlying reasons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40405/16]
View answerThe National Self-Harm Registry Ireland is a national system of population monitoring for the occurrence of hospital-treated self-harm. It was established, at the request of the Department of Health and Children, by the National Suicide Research Foundation and is funded by the Health Service Executive’s National Office for Suicide Prevention. The outcomes of the Registry continue to highlight the importance of improving access to services for people engaging in self-harm, in line with strategic goals 4 and 7 of Connecting for Life, Ireland’s new National Strategy to Reduce Suicide, 2015-2020. This involves access to real-time surveillance data on self-harm, and improving the provision of psychosocial and psychiatric assessment for self-harm patients in the emergency department, as well as delivering targeted interventions for self-harm. Additionally, the findings from the Registry provided an informed basis for an on-going five-year research programme into determinants of self-harm and suicide in Ireland. This programme aims to improve the care for people who engage in self-harm, and to reduce repeated self-harm and suicide.
The 2015 annual report of the National Suicide Research Foundation collected self-harm data from all 36 acute hospitals that operated in Ireland during that year. This report found the rate of self-harm amongst 10-14 year-olds in 2015 to be 178 per 100,000 for females in this age range and 45 per 100,000 for males in this age range. The Registry does record information on self-harm among children under the age of 10; however, since this concerns a small number of cases per year, rates of self-harm per 100,000 for children under the age of 10 are not calculated. The Registry also records referrals for patients discharged from the emergency department following self-harm. In 2015 these referrals included the following: out-patient appointments, recommendations to attend their GP, a recommendation of other services such as psychological services, community-based mental health teams and addiction services, and transfers to another hospital for psychiatric and medical treatment.
