Meeting documents

To consider a report by the NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (attached).

The Committee considered a report by the NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) setting out the approach that has been taken in Dorset.

Members were informed that the National Suicide Strategy had come into force in 2016. The umbrella pan-Dorset Plan covered the 6 key themes from the National Strategy with all organisations signed up to the Plan which included a commitment from Dorset HealthCare to achieve zero suicides within in-patient units.  Each organisation had its own governance and would develop its own plan to cover the areas that it could influence.  Overall governance would be via the CCG Integrated Community Care Service Programme Board and the local authority Health and Wellbeing Board.

An event on Monday 26 November 2018 relaunched the suicide prevention work and gathered views from attendees including the need to widen input from the community; the need to focus on families, carers, friends (who spot warning signs); the focus on making meaningful lives or helping to build better lives and the need for one aspirational suicide prevention plan for the whole County.

Next steps involved:-

·        quarterly meetings of the Steering Group - each organisation would attend with set agenda items and the theme for each meeting decided at the previous meeting;

·        a first meeting of the Steering Group in March 2019 would focus on lived experience and putting people as the central focus of the work;

·        support from the CCG to develop the wider partnership group to support the Plan and enable the reach across Dorset.

The Chairman asked whether the views expressed at Monday’s event would be taken forward in the development of the Strategy and it was confirmed that all of the views from the groups who attended had been noted and would not be discounted.  The Steering Group meeting in March would set the agenda for the whole year, with some suggestions becoming meeting themes. Suggestions had also been made to include community safety teams, the RNLI and coastguard in the Steering Group.

Councillor Ireland, who attended the event, considered this a very useful meeting with great enthusiasm and buy in by the parties who were there and a consensus of agreement on the areas where there were gaps in provision.  He felt it was important to understand that people presented through different routes such as housing and to include these as areas of focus to better identify those at risk.

A member commented that having a plan with a lot of stakeholders involved was different from delivering on the plan.  She drew attention to the difference in the approach taken if someone did not indicate that they were feeling suicidal despite the fact that they might feel suicidal on a different occasion.  There were also difficulties in getting back into the system once a patient had been discharged.  Questions were asked in relation to access to mental health services as a result of routine depression screening at GP surgeries and how suicide risk was picked up in children.

It was confirmed that the Plan was for all ages across mental health services generally.  The majority of people who committed suicide did not access these services, although there may have been increased visits to their GP but not for mental health issues. 

Members asked whether the Plan made provision for people in prison and it was confirmed that the Prison Service had been invited to attend Monday's event and, although unable to attend, the Service had provided a statement that it wished to be involved in development of the Plan.  An outstanding question remained whether prisoners were included in suicide numbers.  It was known that most suicides occurred in inpatient units or in prison and so these were the key areas.

The Assistant Director - Early Help ? Community Services outlined the areas of DCC's involvement including communications, the Environment and Economy Directorate (walks and green spaces for mental health) and planning policies and the Children's Services Directorate in terms of the Thrive Model.  This was about the benefit of linking everything together including public health to provide prevention at scale. A further meeting with officers would take place to assess how to take the work forward and involve all of the services in the new Dorset Council.

Councillor Alison Reed drew attention to the need for mental health services in Weymouth and Portland as an area of deprivation.  In particular, she highlighted an issue with many children with high needs in one of the schools and also the high number of rough sleepers.

The Chairman reported that the Collingwood Wing at HMP Verne, Portland would be for the sole use of jailed veterans and it was hoped that the benefit of peer support would assist in reducing incidences of suicide in the veteran population. 

Resolved

That a further report on progress with the Dorset Suicide Prevention Strategy is provided in June 2019.