10% suicide reduction nothing to celebrate says Nesbitt as Durkan speaks of mental health epidemic

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Mike Nesbitt has said a target of reducing the rate of suicide by 10 per cent in the North’s Protect Life 2 strategy was based on World Health Organisation advice but was not something to be celebrated if achieved.

Speaking in the Stormont Assembly during a debate on mental health provision Mr. Nesbitt told MLAs he remembered discussing the targets during an all-party meeting at Magee when Protect Life 2 was published five years ago.

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“We were debating the policy and the idea that the target was to reduce the number of suicides by 10 per cent. We thought, ‘Gosh, that's not very ambitious’. To be fair to officials, that is internationally based by, I think, the World Health Organization (WHO).

“It is a practical, achievable target, but we all agreed that it was not a target to be celebrated if we achieved it. None of us wants to go to one of the families that continue to lose loved ones through suicide and say, ‘Haven't we done well by reducing the rate by 10%?’, because, for them, the loss is 100 per cent. So, crudely, one suicide is one too many,” he told MLAs.

Health Minister Mike NesbittHealth Minister Mike Nesbitt
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt

The Health Minister said he believes every suicide is preventable.

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"I believe, because the experts have told me, that every suicide is preventable right up to the moment when it takes place. As is often said, suicide tends to be a permanent solution to what is often a very temporary problem, emotion, feeling or set of circumstances,” he stated.

The Protect Life 2 strategy was launched in 2019 and has been extended to 2027.

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Mr. Nesbitt said: "At least £12 million is spent annually on suicide prevention in Northern Ireland, and the strategy is also supported by activities in the mental health strategy.

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"Of course, when the strategy was first published, it envisaged much greater investment and Executive-wide buy-in than has actually been the case. I have to say that, when it comes to those who supported the Budget, the irony klaxon has not been silent during this debate.”

The Health Minister welcomed comments from the north’s mental health champion Professor Siobhán O’Neill about the need for greater funding for mental health.

"I really welcome the fact that Professor Siobhán O'Neill made those comments and made them so explicitly and so publicly, because having a mental health champion — an independent assessor — was my idea,” he said.

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SDLP MLA Mark H. Durkan, contributing to the debate, said: “I am sure that there is not one person here who has not been affected by poor mental health in some way or other or even by the scourge of suicide. I am sure that most of us struggle with stuff ourselves.”

“It is deeply concerning that, in a time of relative peace here in the North, the number of lives that are lost to suicide now exceeds the number that were lost during the Troubles.

"While we have moved away from the violent conflict of the past, many now face a silent crisis — a mental health epidemic that continues to claim lives.”

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Contact Lifeline 08088088000; Samaritans 02871265511 or Freephone 116123; and Childline 08001111.

In RoI contact Pieta House 1800247247 or text HELP (51444); TEXT Crisis Textline Ireland (50808); or ring Samaritans 116-123.

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