Discussion Suicide rate in England at 25-year high, with male veterans at greater risk

[Againstthewind]

Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics have been released (which a lot of news providers seem to be ignoring) apart from maybe one I've seen.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded 5,579 suicides in England last year, the most since 1999 and a 5.5 per cent increase on the 5,284 in 2022.

Newly released figures from 2021 also suggest male Armed Forces veterans aged between 25 and 44 are nearly twice as likely to take their own lives as other men of their age.

The ONS cautioned that the 2023 statistics are based on the year deaths were officially registered, with long administrative delays meaning just 39.3 per cent of the deaths registered in 2023 actually occurred that year.

The figures suggest there were 11.1 suicides for every 100,000 people in 2023, up from 10.5 the year before. London had the lowest suicide rate of any region of England, while the highest was in the North East, at 16.2 deaths per 100,000 people.

The ONS also conducted the first ever analysis of suicide among Armed Forces veterans in England and Wales, finding that males aged between 25 and 44 had a higher rate of suicide than men of their age who were not in the forces.

The rate for male veterans aged between 25 and 34 was 38.2 deaths per 100,000 and it was 33.5 deaths per 100,000 among those aged 35 to 44. This is compared to 18 deaths per 100,000 among 25 to 34-year-olds in the general population and 18.8 deaths per 100,000 among men aged 35 to 44.

The ONS also found that veteran suicides represented almost five per cent of all deaths by suicide in 2021. There were 253 veteran suicides out of a total of 5,175 in people aged 16 years and above in 2021, equating to 4.9 per cent.

No fewer than 93.7 per cent of veterans who died by suicide were male, and 6.3 per cent were female. The figures equate to approximately 15 suicides for every 100,000 veterans, with 16 suicides per 100,000 male veterans and seven suicides per 100,000 female veterans.

Firearm discharges accounted for 5.9 per cent of suicides among male veterans in 2021, the ONS said, compared with just 1.6 per cent in the male general population.

The analysis, which included reservists, primarily focused on male suicides because veterans are mostly men. It was based on death registration records linked to Census 2021 and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Service Leavers Database (SLD).

Of course as we already know, the huge effects coming out of the pandemic, the cost of living is rising, the spirit stamped on, and everyone has there own story of being dismissed by underfunded services, regardless of home treatment teams, a&e, psych wards, and even doctors surgeries.
This wrapped up with cuts and allowing funding to run out. The way veterans are treated is an abominable stain on this country's reputation.

We need increased commitments from all political parties to tackle the scale of need (LOL I'm not a wizard). This must be alongside the Suicide Prevention Strategy to reduce the number of people experiencing mental health problems and reaching crisis point. This means investing in community mental health services, removing the continuous gender and race inequalities (not these unnecessary barriers that are put in peoples way with medical bias and attitude) and putting in place measures so everyone with a mental health problem can get the help they need.

Urgent reform of the Mental Health Act is needed and inpatient services for people experiencing crisis.

- ONS April 2024 Suicides Q1 to Q4 - Source Material

 

[Fiona003]

The rate increase of suicide in men has alot to do with Masculinity but I can't share my thoughts on here because I respect others and I know my opinions can be sensitive . But as a lady all I can say is Men go through a lot . Life as a man is extremely hard and painful

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

Urgent reform of the Mental Health Act is needed

Yes, but the ideal reform in my opinion is abolishing it. Sectioning suicidal people is cruel and a punishment in many cases rather than any sort of rehabilitation. The resources and powers spent sectioning suicidal people could be better spent on research funding into WHY people are suicidal, rather than labeling every single person as depressed rather than diving deeper into the root causes, and funding trials for new treatments.

 

[UKscotty]

Our government does nothing for suicide prevention anymore, they just don't care.

You can goto A&E all cut up or overdosed and they send you home with a thoughts and emotions diary and tell you to wait 18 months for recovery therapy.

I can never get my head around anyone who says the UK government is anti suicide, I don't see a single thing they do to prevent suicide. They even stopped the police responding, now people in duress can be waiting for over 10 hours for an ambulance as no one else is coming to help.

 

[Darkover]

Our government does nothing for suicide prevention anymore, they just don't care.

You can goto A&E all cut up or overdosed and they send you home with a thoughts and emotions diary and tell you to wait 18 months for recovery therapy.

I can never get my head around anyone who says the UK government is anti suicide, I don't see a single thing they do to prevent suicide. They even stopped the police responding, now people in duress can be waiting for over 10 hours for an ambulance as no one else is coming to help.

25,000 adults are inpatients in mental health hospitals in England. According to the latest NHS data something the government does to prevent suicides

 

[thetimehaspast]

In my lifetime I can't remember the quality of normal time worse. The political party's no longer fight with different party's but infighting internall in the party to allow it function to improving life for its population. PM after PM with their own goals that change every time it gets a new PM. You add Brexit, referendums that fracture the UK. Huge issues with how country function and plasters sicking on it to do a quick fix and not look at big picture. Tax cuts when it's needed more than ever. No longer have social housing as it program from the 80s where the resident can buy it at it a discount when it was designed to give low income family to have a home and not bedsit. Socal Housing selling faster than can be built. Families thats can no longer grantee hours a week of income coming into a house. It's hard to see a doctor or dentists with resorting to pulling their own teeth. NHS that half the country's taxes go to the NHS but it can't function (huge management boards, old computers and still using fax's. After WW2 there was a program to make sure there were homes if needed, money to pay for food and bills, free healthcare. The country's standard of living is going backward for people. Will it plan opening new workhouses for the poor to live in ten years time as it seems to be going that way. Inquiry after inquiry about huge scandals that don't ever seem improve things. It needs a strong leader that ALL the party know is strong and back. It a dark time in history of the UK and in my view it's clear why suicide is rising and being used as away to escape disfunction. Just when you think it can't get worse it does.