Suicide details hard for mental health commissioners to obtain

Data from inquests into suicides - setting out the circumstances and cause - are not always disclosed and its release is at the discretion of courts.
Contact Consulting mental health consultant Steve Appleton said it was often down to individual relationships whether commissioners could obtain unpublished data from a coroner.
He said: “I think it’s fair to say it is extremely varied across the country. Sometimes they can operate a closed door policy.”
NHS Havering head of mental health commissioning Bob Barr said his team had a good relationship with their local coroner.
But he said: I don’t think the law is clear on what information does get to be divulged.
“Without suicide data we will never be able to tell whether the interventions we make are
effective.”
Scotland has a central register of suicides. The Department of Health and Ministry of Justice had reportedly been working on the same for England but both now refuse to comment on the issue.