Gordon Kochane, Consultant in Public Health, Shropshire Council

The Board received the report of the Consultant in Public Health, Shropshire Council – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which set out the draft Shropshire Suicide Prevention Strategy which had been refreshed.  The Consultant in Public Health introduced and amplified his report which had been out for stakeholder consultation.  He informed the Board that the Strategy had been co-produced by their multi-agency Suicide Prevention Network which sat across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and built upon the work of the first Suicide Prevention Strategy that was launched in 2017.  He drew attention to the outcomes from that Strategy and explained that the vision within the new strategy was to build upon the work that had previously been undertaken with a continued focus on reducing the number of people who take their life.

He went on to highlight the key messages from this Strategy which were very much around promoting greater awareness and conversation about suicide to tackle stigma and to encourage anyone who was struggling or had been impacted by suicide to reach out as early as possible and he reminded the Board of the priorities outlined within the updated Strategy.  He reported that an Action Plan was being created by the Shropshire Suicide Prevention Action Group and sub-groups had been set up to help deliver this.  He went on to explain that buy in and support was required from partners and others who already worked with those high-risk cohorts and who had that insight and understood the challenges in order to really help explore where the shared ambitions could be and what could be done to strengthen outcomes in terms of suicide prevention, reducing inequalities and improving the lives of those individuals.  He requested that anyone who was interested in supporting that work to please contact him direct.

Finally, the Consultant in Public Health explained that the Strategy used to be for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, but following stakeholder feedback it was felt that having a dedicated Shropshire local authority area strategy would be beneficial and gave flexibility as Shropshire had quite a different demographic to Telford.  However, he reassured the Board that they still operated as one Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Suicide Prevention Network and that partnership work was still ongoing. He went on to inform the Board that the local ambitions did align to the national ambitions (the National Strategy having been published that week) however there was still uncertainty around the funding commitment to take this work forward as the current funding was coming to an end in March 2024.

Members welcomed and endorsed the strategy.  A query was raised in relation to objective three, suicide risk aware and Action 5 increasing suicide risk awareness and skills intervention, and what was being done to ensure that the people of Shropshire understood what they could do in terms of contact if they were concerned about someone.  In response, the Consultant in Public Health explained that there were some resources which had been developed and which were available on the Healthy Shropshire webpage so, for example, if a professional was supporting someone who was struggling with suicide ideation, there were some initial contacts and guidance information about what they could do and who they could contact, depending on the situation and age of the person.  A first point of contact for concerns around mental health and wellbeing in the broader context document had recently been launched, which was also available from the Healthy Shropshire webpage and again gave some brief advice as to what you can do, what you can say, who you can contact.  He confirmed to the Board that he would be happy to explore what more could be done to ensure professionals were aware of what support services were available in Shropshire and what more the Board could do to ensure those messages were out there in our communities.

A brief discussion ensued around how to make the Zero Suicide Alliance free online training mandatory for all professionals and how this was being picked up by providers.  It was felt that the Board as local authority and the NHS could build in mandatory training and set the example to the wider organisations.  The Chairman therefore asked NHS provider colleagues and partners if they could have a conversation around what that mandatory training would look like. A plea was made for consideration of training for the voluntary sector also.

The Portfolio Holder for Social Care, Public Health & Communities thanked the Consultant in Public Health for producing this excellent report and she felt that the recommendations needed to be taken seriously.  She explained that part of the problem being faced was that Shropshire was a very large county with limited resources and a whole gamut of different age groups that were affected, particularly by suicide, and trying to deal with each group appropriately was quite difficult so an overall approach was not necessarily going to be the right one and there may need to be different approaches depending on who you’re dealing with.  She felt that one of the other really important things was that people understood that help and support was available and that there was a point of contact for them and she would certainly be talking to her parishes about it. She urged that thought be given to starting at the bottom not just with the professionals in order to be as holistic as possible.

The Consultant in Public Health agreed to take away all the points raised and take them forward.  In conclusion, he reminded the Board that the joint training team were ‘suicide first aid’ accredited and they were able to provide that training offer at a subsidised/no cost to other delegates, particularly in the voluntary and community sector and he drew attention to the DHSC suicide prevention grant fund that had been established which was specifically aimed at the voluntary and community sector to support suicide prevention activity, the deadline for which was 1 October 2023, anyone interested in submitting a bid was requested to contact him.

RESOLVED:  To note the recommendations contained in the report.