The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by people with mental illness (2013) has 'three core strands: suicide, homicide and sudden unexplained death. This research is to recommend changes to clinical practice and policy that will reduce the risk of suicide, homicide or sudden death in mental health patients in the UK. The 2013 report listed a number of recommendations which are felt to have an impact on suicide rates which included 7 day follow up for psychiatric patients following discharge from hospital. Communication at transition is also one of the highest contributory factors in significant clinical incident reviews and it was felt that this work stream could help reduce suicide rates and readmission to hospital.
Aim: 95% of in-patients discharged from one ward in Hospital A will be followed up within 7 days by the end of 2016.
