Barking And Dagenham Improving For Mental Health
Self-harm rates have dropped dramatically in the last five years and preventable death rates in Barking and Dagenham are low.
Barking and Dagenham has the lowest reported suicide rate in London and admissions to hospital for self-harm have fallen since 2015, new data has revealed.
The latest data by the Office for National Statistics found there were eight deaths in the borough that were determined to be a suicide by the coroner in 2018 and 129 fewer admissions to hospital for self-harm in 2019 compared to 2015.
Only one place in the capital had fewer preventable deaths, the City of London, which has an estimated population of 9,401. Barking and Dagenham has an estimated population of 211,998.
There were 466 admissions to hospitals in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust for self-harm and attempted suicide in 2018 and 398 in 2019.
Hospitals in the trust include Barking Hospital, King George Hospital in Goodmayes, Queen’s Hospital in Romford and Brentwood Community Hospital.
The official figures for coroner’s verdicts last year, which are due to be published in September, may show a change in this trend as the threshold for declaring a death as a suicide has been lowered following a court decision last May.
The findings were sourced by media literacy charity The Student View in a Freedom of Information request submitted to Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.
If you are experiencing difficulties that you think may be related to your mental health, please seek help. Call NHS 111, or click here for support from The Samaritans, or here for support from Mind.