Rise in self-harm incidents in Leicestershire's mental health wards
Leicester Mercury, 3 September 2014
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Rise-self-harm-incidents-Leicestershire-s-mental/story-22870617-detail/story.html
This article is mainly focussed on the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (which includes the Bradgate Mental Health Unit)
From what I've seen as a visitor and heard anecdotally (locally) the approaches and responses to patient self harm vary from nurse to nurse and ward to ward. Also I believe that with statistics like these that there is a confusion over actual suicide attempts, sudden acts of frustration and ritualistic, negative coping repeated self harm of a specific type. This may depend upon how it reflects upon the staff on duty and whether or not they have properly risk assessed the patient and taken sensible, yet sensitive, precautions. Sometimes having a room stripped of possessions or being put in a seclusion room will happen after a traumatic self harm event or suicide attempt and the patient will feel as though they are being punished by staff. I am unaware of any specialist therapy or advice provided by LPT in the cases of self harm, apart from "talk to staff". It's one thing to have policies about patient risk, to have rules about "collapsible ligature points" and so forth, but it's another to actually train staff in understanding some of very common acts of mental health sufferers. Perhaps they do they train their nurses, but maybe some days the staff all come from an agency where the nurses barely understand what a mental health ward actually is. (Just surmising here)
Regarding Self harm and injury two good UK resourses are
LifeSIGNs http://www.lifesigns.org.uk/
and
NSHN http://www.nshn.co.uk/
See also:
Mind Charity - Info on S/H
http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/self-harm/
Suicide help from The Samaritans
http://www.samaritans.org/
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