Suicide within 48 hours of visiting A and E (FOI)

Request

How many patients have taken their own lives over the past five years within 48 hours of visiting or seeking help from the Emergency Department? 

Please break down the information by year if disclosure is not an issue, i.e. if there are more than five incidents per year. If there are less than five per year, please just provide a total.

Response

Due to a number of outstanding inquests, comprehensive information on deaths by suicide is only available up to 2021. As such, it is not possible to provide the requested information for the period 2022 to 2024. 

Data for the 5-year period from 2017 to 2021 (inclusive) is considered complete, and each individual’s medical record has been reviewed for attendance at Jersey General Hospital’s Emergency Department. 

Of those who are known to have completed suicide between 01 January 2017 and 

31 December 2022, two people attended the Emergency Department in the 48 hours preceding their death. As numbers are small, an annual breakdown is not provided. ​