The University of Nottingham study: GPs would welcome more specialist knowledge to manage suicide risk among young patients

Dr Maria Michail, in the University’s School of Health Sciences, said: “This study has important implications for the provision of specialist training to support GPs in the assessment and management of youth suicide risk. Equipping GPs with the knowledge, skills and confidence to identify early and manage suicide risk in young people could improve the quality and safety of primary care services and ultimately prevent avoidable deaths.

“For any such training to be effective however it would need to be accompanied by significant changes in the communication between GPs and mental health professionals as well as in how quickly and efficiently young vulnerable people can access specialist mental health services. Suicide is a largely preventable public health problem and we want to raise awareness about how we can support young people through difficult times in their lives.”

Identifying suicide risk

Evidence shows that GPs are well-placed to identify and assess suicide risk – young patients who go on to take their own lives tend to visit their GP more in the one to three months leading up to their death.

Those who go on to die by suicide are also likely to have attempted suicide and may have talked about suicide. Eighty per cent of those who take their own life will have self-harmed in the previous year.

The study involved GPs from five practices in Nottingham taking part in a series of focus groups over a six-month period discussing their experiences of offering mental health care to young people.

These discussions highlighted the following key themes:

• Developing a guided decision-making tool to support GPs in the assessment of suicide risk, including key questions for GPs to focus on, that would inform clinical decisions about management options
• Providing GPs with specialist knowledge in youth suicide and self-harm.
• Improving referral pathways and communication between the patient, GP and the children young person’s/adult crisis team The study was supported by a grant from Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group.

The team are now planning to design a new educational intervention to trial with GP practices in Nottingham city and Nottinghamshire.

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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city.’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and the winner of ‘Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2015. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, and 8th in the UK by research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for three years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…

Story credits
More information is available from Dr Maria Michail in the School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham on +44 (0)115 748 4310,maria.michail@nottingham.ac.uk

Emma Thorne – Media Relations Manager
Email: emma.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)115 951 5793
Location: University Park

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Doctor Treating Female Patient Suffering With Depression