Dept Of Health Review Suicide Prevention Strategy

The Department of Health has launched a review of the Protect Life 2 Action Plan, a five year strategy to reduce suicide and self harm, first published in 2019.

The Review provides an opportunity to take stock of progress to date on implementation of the extended Protect Life 2 Strategy (2019) and inform the future Action Plan for delivery.

The first stage of the review will be to seek the views of stakeholders and interested parties, beginning with a survey which opens today and will run for 3 weeks.

Prof Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer, said: "Reducing suicide and self-harm is a challenge for society as a whole and across both statutory and voluntary organisations. The importance of working together on prevention cannot be underestimated and we are grateful to groups and individuals who have helped inform the Strategy and Action Plan to date. We value your contributions and are keen to hear your views on each action and how we can improve future delivery.

"We will be contacting stakeholders involved in suicide prevention work in the coming days and I would encourage all to contribute."

• Surveys can be completed at www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ProtectLife2/

Following the conclusion of the survey a series of workshops will be held over the month of February to ensure maximum accessibility from all who wish to input to this Review. The workshops will provide scope for deeper exploration of the themes emerging from the survey. Workshops will be arranged across regional areas. Registration is essential.

Prof Sir Michael continued: "Consultants have been appointed through the HSC Leadership Centre to lead the Review. This will be a rapid review and the Department has requested a final report by the end of March 2024. The Department will then update the Protect Life 2 Action Plan by end of June 2024."