Suicide Prevention Week: Scots are at their “wits end”

At the time of Luke’s tragic passing death, a strategy to tackle suicide was non-existent.

The Scottish Government announced its first suicide prevention pledge in 2018, the Every Life Matters, Suicide Prevention Action Plan (SPAP).

Then from that, the government launched Creating Hope Together in 2022, setting out a 10-year strategy.

In 2022, the number of male suicides in Scotland were 556, while the number of women taking their own lives was 206 in the same year.

And just last week it was reported by the BBC that the number of women seeking mental health support in Scotland had soared by more than 40 per cent from 2020, and suicide was found to be highest in women in their 50s.

As Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced £500m in savings to be made ahead of the 2025/26 budget, concerns have increased for the NHS workforce, which is known to be often operating with skeletal staff teams as it is.

Monica Lennon MSP, who has backed Luke’s legacy campaign from the beginning, said: “Karen’s research, reading along with other public statistics, is a very concerning picture. It shows that we have a serious mental health crisis in Scotland, an NHS workforce is not equipped to deal with that, communities are not equipped to deal with that, and the Scottish Government doesn’t seem to be accepting that something really serious needs to change.”

Pages: 1 2