At the threat of suicide: Recent accounts relate that the police are often informed but not family members, though they have the best means to help in the long term to prevent suicides. Kent and Medway STP Suicide prevention Programme remote texting service, will refer to the CRISIS team.
The Consensus Statement 2014: Information sharing and suicide prevention
“If the purpose of the disclosure is to prevent a person who lacks capacity from serious harm, there is an expectation that practitioners will disclose relevant confidential information, if it is considered to be in the person’s best interest to do so”.
7B) TASC: SUICIDE PREVENTION
http://tasc-uk.org/
Updated 03/12/2017
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health has set an ambition to reduce the numbers of people in England taking their own lives by 10 per cent by 2020/21.
When considering such strategies, families should be considered a potential source of information, advice and support: potential partners in suicide prevention.
In 2014, the Royal College of Psychiatrists was one of nine signatories to a Consensus Statement on Information sharing and suicide prevention prepared by the Department of Health. This is unambiguous that the duty of confidentiality is no justification for not listening to the views of family members and friends, who may offer insight into the individual’s state of mind. This can aid risk assessment, care and treatment, and good practice includes providing families with non-person specific information in their own right, such as how to access services in a crisis, and support services for carers.
It also clearly states that when a practitioner is satisfied that a suicidal patient lacks capacity to make a decision about sharing information about their suicide risk, they should use their professional judgement to determine what is in the person’s best interest.