Creating Hope Together: suicide prevention action plan 2022 to 2025

Outcome 4

Outcome 4: Our approach to suicide prevention is well planned and delivered, through close collaboration between national, local and sectoral partners. Our work is designed with lived experience insight, practice, data, research and intelligence. We improve our approach through regular monitoring, evaluation and review

*We recognise this is an enabling outcome to the other 3 outcomes. Whilst technically a process, rather than societal, outcome, we consider it critical to achieving the vision.

Priority

• Embed a coordinated, collaborative and integrated approach

Context / Messages

• By designing-in our data needs and taking a broad view of different types of evidence (including management / evaluation data, qualitative data and service insights) we will build an effective evidence informed approach to suicide prevention.
• Our data, evidence, practice and lived experience insights are all essential for good design, delivery and evaluation of our actions, and will inform the continued evolution of our approach to suicide prevention.
• Our outcomes framework will identify indicators and measures which will enable us to assess progress and evaluate delivery of the outcomes.
• Public Health Scotland will play a key role in translating evidence into action on the ground – both in our communities and in key settings.
• Surveillance and reviews of suicide will help improve our understanding about suicide and enable us to take action to proactively support people at greater risk of suicide.

What we will keep doing

• Use the insights from lived experience – the Lived Experience Panel and the Youth Advisory Group – to shape the design, delivery, communications and evaluation across our work
• Engage with equalities groups and marginalised communities to better understand their specific needs which will help shape our work
• Learn about suicidal behaviour from our Academic Advisory Group. This includes: understanding the connection between suicide and mental health and wellbeing; risk and protective factors; and, effective interventions for reducing suicide – including for specific groups. We will seek to learn more from qualitative and quantitative research by creating a horizon scanning function, and ensuring suicide research is integrated into our Delivery Collective alongside practice and lived experience insights. By synthesising and disseminating this learning we will be better placed to drive change nationally and locally
• Continue to bring together data sources on suicide to inform our priorities, actions and public information. This will include: routine data, suicide reviews, more timely data, Scottish Suicide Information Database (ScotSID), and management / evaluation data. To support this, we will develop national information sharing agreements where necessary to support collection, analyses, management and sharing of data
• Seek opportunities to carry out tests of change in communities of interest and place to learn more about effective suicide prevention approaches
• Continue to progress local multi-agency data reviews, with a supporting learning system. This will help identify missed service engagement opportunities
• Support local areas to develop tailored suicide prevention action plans based on local need. This will be supported by guidance, good practice, and local data
• Additionally, the national implementation lead resource will provide guidance and support.

New actions

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.1: In settings and services where people are at higher risk of suicide, ensure there is a suicide prevention action plan in place which takes account of risk and protective factors, and connects to statutory partners (where appropriate) and local suicide prevention plans – to ensure smooth transition release or discharge. This should draw on existing plans, resources and best practice approaches taken within settings to suicide prevention.

Plans should include actions for the people they support as well as for their workforce, and the development of plans should include input from both groups. Key settings / services include: criminal justice settings (police custody and prison), secure accommodation, residential care, first / emergency responders, and schools / further and higher education (as appropriate).

Considerations in developing this approach:

• Scope to develop resources for use in occupational sectors, especially where high prevalence of suicide, such as construction and veterinarian
• Consider providing resources / frameworks for action, together with opportunities to share and learn from practice across sectors.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.2: Develop guidelines that enable effective and timely responses to suicide clusters and contagion within their local context.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.3: Continue to develop, embed, nurture and enhance our lived experience model, whilst ensuring it is representative of the diversity of people affected by suicide. Enhancing the model could include:

• Developing resources / toolkit to support people with lived experience sharing their personal stories in safe, meaningful and impactful ways
• Seeking opportunities to bring together national and local lived experience groups and considering when and how to seek wider lived experience input and participation.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

New actions

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.4: Improve data recording and reporting on suicide deaths and attempts, and bring that together with wider, relevant data to improve our understanding of suicide risks and trends. This intelligence will form a core part of our suicide prevention Delivery Collective to support planning, delivery and evaluation, both at a national and local level.

Considerations in developing this approach:

Explore scope for recording suicide attempts (linked to locations of concern data). This will require improving the reporting and quality of data on self-harm and suicide attempts

Consider drawing on data relating to children and young people’s needs from schools, counselling services, etc., and potentially other settings, such as further and higher education, secure and community settings

Explore use of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and other analytical tools to plot and identify locations of concern for suicides, suicide attempts, and distress incidents - to inform local action

Ensure data from suicide reviews connects to and enhances ScotSID data, as well as wider data sets such as National Records of Scotland (NRS) published data, more timely data, and management / evaluation data which will enhance the data around factors relating to suicide such as trauma, criminal justice, gender-based violence etc.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.5: Introduce a horizon-scanning function to produce a 6-monthly digest of new evidence, which connects to the Mental Health Research Advisory Group. Priority areas may include: COVID-19 and cost of living impacts, and the mental health of children and young people and other marginalised equality groups. Again, this intelligence will form a core part of our suicide prevention Delivery Collective to support planning, delivery and evaluation, both at a national and local level.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.6: Roll out multi-agency suicide reviews and a learning system (aligning with the serious adverse event reviews process within mental health services). The learning from suicide reviews should sit alongside the trend analyses from the Scottish Suicide Information Database (ScotSID) to maximise the opportunities for evidence to continually improve suicide prevention action.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

Action area 6: Data, evidence and planning

Action 6.7: Host learning events to disseminate information and share learning and good practice between and across sectors on suicide prevention. This will build on the Suicide Information Research Evidence Network (SIREN) model.

** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.

What will we do next

• Apply learning from the tests of change in communities of interest and place (set out under Outcome 2 & 3) in order to support wider change
• Consider further use of standards and guidelines to drive improvement in statutory and non-statutory sectors, on suicide prevention
• Continual review of priorities / areas of focus and overall action plan on the basis of emerging data and understanding – progress on this plan will be reviewed at the progress on this will be reviewed at the mid-point of the action plan
• Consider the use of the innovation programmes to promote suicide prevention action.