Samaritans is calling for the Government to set a standard of suicide prevention training and wellbeing support for all emergency workers
Today, Samaritans reveals troubling new data showing an annual rise of 32,143 in Ambulance Service suicide and self-harm call outs across England.
The charity’s Freedom of Information request received responses from eight out of the 11 NHS Ambulance Services in England, all of which responded to more suicide and self-harm incidents in 2024 than in 2023, with one region handling almost double the number than the previous year.
The latest figures paint an even more concerning picture of the rising pressure on emergency services. Earlier this year, a Parliamentary Question revealed that suicide call outs for Fire and Rescue Services in England have also increased to a record high in the same year and tripled over the last decade*.
Despite the fact that helping suicidal people is a regular occupational occurrence that’s sadly on the rise, there is no required training on suicide prevention for those working in the police, fire and rescue or ambulance services, nor consistent wellbeing support to ensure their own mental health is being cared for.
Samaritans urges the Government to ensure all emergency services have the resources and requirement to provide workers with the suicide prevention training and support they need to carry out their job safely and reduce lives lost to suicide.
Elliot Colburn, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager at Samaritans, said: “Emergency service workers are attending rising suicide-related call outs without always having the specific training and support that would better prepare them for these challenging situations – a national problem that demands a national solution. Overstretched emergency services are doing their best but not all have the resource to proactively prioritise suicide prevention training for their workers. As this is unfortunately becoming a more frequent part of the job, the Government has a duty to take action and stop failing those on the frontline and those in crisis by missing opportunities to save lives.”
Samaritans will be raising awareness of their campaign which calls on the government to properly resource, support and train frontline workers in suicide prevention at the upcoming Party Conferences. You can find out more about the United with the frontline campaign here.
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Notes to editors
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*https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables#non-fire-incidents (Fire 0901 table)
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