The Ministry of Health rules out applying a specific plan at the national level to stop the current suicide record that the Spanish society lives. So the option proposed by Psychiatry is left aside and has been very successful among the countries that have managed to reduce their suicide rate by half.
According to sources from the Ministry to Medical Writing, Health understands that it is enough with the line of action around suicide included in the Mental Health Strategy and which is similar to those that include regional suicide plans. “It doesn’t seem necessary. that the objectives and recommendations of line 3 (Prevention, early detection and attention to suicidal behavior) be included in a new document separate from the Mental Health Strategy”, stand out from the Ministry.
In addition, from the Ministry they remember that the main recommendations for the prevention of suicide and suicidal behavior have been included as actions in the Mental Health Action Plan 2022 -2024. Some measures that have a budget of 100 million to be transferred to the autonomous communities and with “specific funding” for the implantation and development of a tfree phone 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week. A care tool for people with suicidal behavior that was one of the historical claims of Psychiatry.
This classification of suicide contrasts with that used by the medical specialty of Psychiatry. In an interview with this medium, the president of the Spanish Society of Biological Psychiatry (SEPB), Víctor Pérez Sola, considered that the The best way to reduce suicide was through a specific and multilevel national plan. “Spain must stop the high rate of suicides because until now we are not doing it. Other countries have achieved it, we just have to follow their recipe. Only with an intervention nothing is solved,” the specialist claimed before Medical Writing.
What is the Health strategy for suicide?
In the document, Health addresses suicide in three pages where it reviews the seriousness of the data and establishes two general objectives and eight specific ones. The first consists of “early detection and prevention of suicidal behaviour”. To this end, it will seek to raise awareness, raise awareness and improve information for the general population through awareness, awareness and information actions promoted by public institutions, the media and social entities dedicated to the cause.
In addition, it will bee improve access to mental health services and care of people with suicidal behavior together with a improvement in the detection of people at risk of suicidal behavior by professionals who work in health services (Emergency, Primary Care, Mental Health and other specialties teams).
To this end, professionals will be provided with “tools that enable the identification of possible suicidal thoughts and the assessment of the risk factors associated with them (especially in situations of emotional crisis, in people with mental health problems and chronic illnesses, as well as in social situations that lead to helplessness or increased vulnerability), increasing personal and professional sensitivity to understand the people who carry out this type of behavior, ”says the document.
They will also be set cdetection criteria of possible suicidal behavior or high-risk factors that might give rise to the reappearance of suicidal ideas and establish criteria for intervention and help in the event of detection of suicidal risk. An improvement in detection that will be linked to a promotion in continuous training for risk detection, proper diagnosis and approach to suicidal behavior.
The second major objective will be “promote the development of integrated care processes for people”. This involves guaranteeing that the report upon discharge from the emergency service reaches the Primary Care doctor in order to ensure the continuity of the necessary care, as well as the Mental Health Center; offer families and close friends information, resources and tools that allow them to act in the event of a new episode; and prompt care for caregivers, relatives and relatives of people who have died by suicide, establishing a procedure for appointment and immediate evaluation in Primary Care and mental health services that allows exploring the initial response to the loss and the eventual need for help.
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