Self-harm: Health Services

(asked on 5th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on increasing support for people who are self-harming of the Lancet article, Prevalence of non-suicidal self-harm and service contact in England, 2000–14: repeated cross-sectional surveys of the general population, published on 4 June 2019.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 11th June 2019

We are aware of the rise in young people self-harming, which is why we included a new key area for action to address self-harming in the cross-government National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2017.

Our close work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on its Online Harms White Paper will also help to tackle online harms associated with harmful suicide and self-harm content across the internet, including social media.

We continue to fund research into self-harming through the multi-centre study for self-harm in England, which will look at self-harming in children and young people in more detail over the next two years.

Through the NHS Long Term Plan we have also invested £249 million to ensure every emergency department has a mental health liaison team in place by 2020/21, which are well placed to treat people who present at hospital for self-harm. The Plan also commits to developing integrated models of primary and community care to support people with complex needs, including self-harming.

Investment in the Mental Health Five Year Forward View and NHS Long Term Plan will deliver timely, high-quality mental health support, including by 2023/24. By expanding services and working with schools and colleges an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will be able to access comprehensive support.

Reticulating Splines