Psychiatric service development and suicide

[...] is some indication that suicide rates in individuals recently discharged from psychiatric hospital are increasing, so there could have been a transfer of some suicides that might have occurred in inpatients to the community setting as the populations of patients have shifted.10 Another study from Finland, however, showed a decrease in both inpatient and early postdischarge suicides over time.11 While overall suicide rates in England have decreased in recent years, the proportion of those who die who have been in recent or current contact with psychiatric services has remained more or less the same.61112 This finding might of course indicate that the services are reaching a greater proportion of more suicidal or at-risk individuals.