Real time suicide early alert system in County Durham: A case study approach

Background: The aim of this study was to conduct an evaluation of a police led real time suspected suicide surveillance system, including the offer of bereavement support, compared with an existing coroner led system.

Methodology: The time taken for a death to be logged as a suspected suicide using both strategies between October 2014 and September 2015 were compared. Uptake of bereavement support during the pilot strategy was compared to the previous three years. Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate differences. A focus group and two interviews were held with key stakeholders to explore barriers and facilitators to the police led real time suspected suicide surveillance strategy; all of which were transcribed verbatim and analysed using applied thematic analysis.

Findings: Suspected suicides were logged via the police system three days quicker than the coroner based system, ensuring immediate access to support. Support services noted a 95% increase in clients during the pilot strategy. The focus group results indicated that emphasis needs to be placed on how to correctly log deaths as suspected suicides; whilst support service interviews indicated that there was a marked increase in referrals into their services.

Discussion: A police led real time suspected suicide surveillance has the potential to inform partnership activity almost immediately. However, in the future there needs to be complete buy in from police to ensure that no deaths are incorrectly logged. Support services must be prepared for an increased demand on their services.