EXCLUSIVE: Chief Medical Officer, 'NI needs societal response to suicide'

Northern Ireland's chief medical officer said tackling the province's worrying levels of suicide should be done in communities.

Speaking to Downtown & Cool FM, Dr Michael McBride said there needed to be a "societal response" to dealing with those in crisis.

"We need to understand that the response to addressing suicide is a societal one," he said.

"There's often this perception that somehow or other we will sort out and reduce the terrible tragedy of the loss of someone through suicide by asking the health department or health services to fix it."

Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rates in the UK and in 2015 had the highest on record.

Dr McBride acknowledged improvements need to be made to support patients in despair:

"You've got to remember that only 30% of people who take their own lives are known to the health service, the other 70% are not," he added.

"Now there is no doubt that we can do better in terms of those who are known to the health service and using mental health services in terms of preventing the risk of suicide in those people."

With an out of date suicide prevention strategy and many patients struggling to access help, we asked if more needs to be done by the department to help people with mental health issues:

Dr McBride said: "Sometimes when people present it is not the right time to intervene particularly if they are in a state of emotional distress and it sometimes can be difficult to provide that support at that time.

"I agree presenting to a busy Emergency Department is not the most optimum place if you're in a state of distress.

"We're also, again piloting this year, a street triage programme which is about identifying where a crisis has occurred and a community based response team to actually ensure that those individuals are signposted appropriately."

• michael mcbride
• chief medical officer
• NHS