Developing care options

Ensuring access to adequate, timely, and evidence-based care. High-quality competencies will be developed for healthcare professionals, including access to evidence-based suicide prevention models for addressing and assessing suicide risk. Healthcare professionals will be supported by sufficient levels of consultation and supervision. Emergency and front-line professionals play a key role in this context, as do General Practitioners and occupational health physicians who have an important role in identifying people at risk of suicide.

Measure 19: Continued collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in organising suicide prevention training for social and healthcare professionals.

Measure 20: Developing evidence-based care models for people at risk of suicide, particularly in relation to new electronic approaches. Consolidating care approaches which follow the Current Care Guidelines for preventing suicides and treating people who have attempted suicides.

Measure 21: Enhancing collaboration between care providers to ensure people at risk of suicide receive seamless and continued care despite care provider changes.

Measure 22: Providing people at immediate risk of suicide with urgent psychiatric consultation to assess treatment need and developing a treatment plan which includes safety planning if necessary. In the case of children or young people, support for older siblings, parents and other friends and family will be accounted for. In the case of parents, children’s support needs will be accounted for.

Measure 23: Strengthening collaboration between experts-by-experience, community organisations, early intervention and healthcare agencies.

Measure 24: Facilitating a high-quality management system for a compassionate care culture.