40 in-patient suicides reported in government hospitals from 2012-2014

There were 40 cases of in-patient suicide reported at government hospitals from 2012 to last year, based on statistics from the health ministry’s internal surveillance system, incident reporting and learning system.

In a statement today, the ministry said in-patient suicide or attempted suicide was an unfortunate event that occurred in hospitals due to many factors.

The factors include the patient’s clinical condition, environmental safety, safety culture, busy wards, insufficient staff and lack of understanding of patient safety.

The ministry said it viewed the matter seriously although the number of cases were very small, in comparison to the number of the ministry's hospital admissions.

Therefore, it had produced the Guideline on Suicide Risk Management in Hospitals to address the issue.

The ministry has also improved the efficiency of its Incident Reporting System by establishing an online Incident Reporting System (e-IR), as it was essential for the ministry to monitor and learn from the incidents to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

The guideline and e-IR were both launched on Monday, in conjunction with 'The Patient Safety Seminar on Suicide Risk Management in Hospitals', it said.