JSNA – People – Suicide and Self-harm

Last Updated: May 2024

Suicide and Self-harm

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Suicide and self-harm are both serious public health problems. The suicide and self-harm dashboard brings together data on prevalence, risk factors, and services within Barnet.

You may also be interested in the Mental Health dashboard, please click here.

Headline Figures

  • The suicide rate in Barnet has been continuously declining since 2014-16 and as of 2020-22 is 3.6 per 100,000 (2020-22).
  • The most recent quarter of data showed 60 A&E admissions due to self-harm. The rate of admissions is highest in those aged 10-19 years old.
  • Risk factors:
    • Adult social care users and adult carers have recently shown a decline in the percentage getting the amount of social interaction that they’d like. In all adults, the prevalence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms has been continuously increasing since 2013/14.
    • More positively, the rate of children entering the youth justice system has significantly declined since 2013/14, as has the number of long-term seekers of Job Seekers Allowance.

Narrative

Rates and Admissions: In 2019-21, the suicide rate in Barnet was 4.8 per 100,000 – this is similar to London (7.3 per 100,000) and significantly lower than England (10.5 per 100,000). The rate was higher in men (7 per 100,000) than women (2.5 per 100,000). In Barnet in 2019-21, 16.2 years life lost due to suicide in those aged 15-74. This is significantly below the England average of 34.6 years. Q2 of 2021/22 saw 60 A&E admissions due to self-harm for the Barnet population. The rate of admissions is highest in those aged 10-19 years (963 admissions per 100,000), followed by those aged 20-29 years (853 admissions per 100,000).

Risk Factors:

  • Childhood: The rate of children in care in Barnet in 2022 is 37 per 10,000, which is below both the London (52 per 10,000) and England average (70 per 10,000). In 2020/21 the rate of children entering the youth justice system was 2.3 per 1,000 – this has decreased by over 50% since 2013/14 in Barnet.
  • Social isolation: This is prevalent in Barnet with only 36.7% of adult social care users having as much social interaction as they’d like, and just 22.2% of adult social carers saying the same. This is lower than both the London and England averages.
  • Unemployment: The model-based unemployment rate in Barnet is 6.4%, which is similar to London but significantly higher than the England average. However, the rate of long-term JSA seekers in Barnet was 1.4 per 1,000 in those aged 16-64 years in 2021 – this is significantly below both the London (2.3 per 1,000) and England averages (2.1 per 1,000).
  • Violence: The rate of domestic abuse related incidents and crimes is 35.4 per 1,000 in Barnet, which is higher than the English average of 30.8 per 1,000. The violent crime offence rate is 19.8 per 1,000, lower than both the London and England average.
  • Alcohol admissions: The male rate of alcohol-related condition admissions episodes in Barnet in 2021/22 was 2,351 per 100,000 – this is significantly higher than the rate in females at 615 per 100,000.
  • Mental health: There is a 9.6% prevalence of clinically-relevant depressive symptoms in adults in Barnet, which is significantly lower than the England average of 13.3%. The prevalence of psychotic/bipolar disorders in Barnet is 1 per 1,000 – this is higher than the England average but lower than the London average.

Services:

  • Specialist drug services: The rate of adults in specialist drug treatment services was 3.1 per 1,000 in 2020/21 in Barnet, significantly lower than the England average of 4.5 per 1,000. Those undergoing non-opiate treatment have a successful completion rate of 25.8% whereas the 5.3% of opiate drug treatment is successfully completed. These rates are similar to both London and England.
  • In Barnet in 2020/21, the rate of adults in specialist alcohol treatment services was 1.1 per 1,000, which is lower than the England average of 1.7 per 1,000. Successful completion of this treatment is currently at 30.9%.

For information on suicide prevention resources and support, please click here.

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