A year has passed since the publication of a new national suicide prevention strategy for England.1 In that time, the political landscape has shifted and we now have a new government in place, but national data on deaths by suicide are still showing worrying trends.As outlined in last year’s strategy, welcome progress has been made over the past two decades: local suicide prevention plans and suicide bereavement services are in place in all areas of the country, and there was a 35% fall in suicides in mental health inpatient settings in England between 2010 and 2020.1 Recently published data, however, show there were still 5656 deaths by suicide in England in 2023.2 The rate of men’s lives lost to suicide remains three times higher than women. Suicide and self-harm among young people are also still on the rise. And while national datasets won’t pick this up, it’s vital to keep…
