FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3531
You asked
Please supply how many of the suicide victims in 2021 were under mental health teams. That being known to mental health services in some way either by registration or in receipt of therapy.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Unfortunately, we do not hold data relating to hospital admissions and Mental Health referrals. This data is held by NHS Digital, they are better placed to answer your enquiry. They can be contacted via email at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, and by telephone at 0300 303 5678.
With regards to the suicide mortality data that we report on, we do not hold analysis on suicide deaths that occurred in 2021 at this point. Most suicides require an inquest, where a coroner investigates the death. The amount of time it takes to hold an inquest causes a lag between the date of death and the date of death registration, referred to as a registration delay. Registration delays for deaths caused by suicide tend to be 5 to 6 months on average.
Our statistics are based on the date of registration, therefore our latest annual Suicides in England and Wales release is based on 2020 death registrations.
We produce provisional suicide data for England on a quarterly basis, with the next update including deaths that have been registered from July to September of 2021. This is for deaths registered in 2021, and due to the registration delay described above, most of these deaths would have occurred in 2020.