The Ministry of Health announces an Action Plan for Suicide Prevention in Spain
On 9 September, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, appeared at a press conference to announce that the creation of an Action Plan for Suicide Prevention. The document will be ready in the coming months and will address this complex problem in a comprehensive, multifactorial and cross-sectoral perspective. The key will be that citizens can find support and resources in the community where they live by improving assistance and response speed, coordination between different levels of care and non-care and accessibility of information.
The new plan is based not only on a health perspective, but also one that involves different social agents, and includes gender aspects and social determinants. Factors such as loneliness, inequality, precarious employment, difficulties in accessing housing and various types of economic problems play a significant role in suicidal behavior.
At the same event, the Secretary of State for Justice, Manuel Olmedo Palacios, from the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts reported that he will remain involved and in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health. He mainly provided data to help understand the phenomenon of suicide mortality in Spain in 2023, providing information from the Legal and Forensic Institutes. In 2023, 3.952 people committed suicide in our country, 6.5% less than the previous year. The toxicological information service handled more than 5.000 queries, of which 85% were for drug poisoning and 82% for ingestion of psychotropic drugs. Here were 735 calls from adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 15 and 140 from boys in the same age range, also with a tendency to decrease compared to the previous year.
The Commissioner for Mental Health, Belén González, then intervened. She initially summarized the actions that have been carried out in the free telephone service for suicidal behavior 024, created in May 2022 and expanded the services through the introduction of an online chat service in June 2023. This hotline has since its inception handled over 300.000 calls, of which approximately 40 % were made by women and 33% by men, accounting for some 12.000 calls a month. The age group that has used the service the most is 50 to59 years old, which would correspond to 25,1% of users who reported their age. The chat service is mostly used by people between 20 and 29 years old. There were 10.665 chats attended in total, about 1.800 per month, and the analysis concluded that 40% of the chats attended have been recorded as medium risk.
She also provided a timetable for the creation of a national action plan on suicidal behavior, covering the period 2025-2027. In this regard, it was announced that on September 18, 2024 a first document outlining the general development lines of the plan will be presented. This document will be produced in coordination with a core group of experts and advisers from a wide range of fields and agents in Spanish society. The document will subsequently be submitted to the Inter-territorial Council of the National Health System for approval and commitment by the autonomous communities. The plan of action for suicide prevention is expected to be ready for implementation in 2025 and will have independent funding from the Ministry of Health, with the commitment of the autonomous communities in implementing the agreed-upon policies.
The plan will have eight main areas and specific actions:
1) Optimization of suicide behavior information systems:
• Creation of an observatory for the prevention of suicidal behavior.
• Promote a system of epidemiological surveillance in mental health that, through the data provided by INE, the Ministries of Justice and Health and The Carlos III Research Institute, includes the recording and monitoring of suicidal behavior.
2) Information, awareness and fight against stigma. Dissemination of work carried out in the 024 telephone service.
3) Support for vulnerable groups: Special attention to the elderly , children and young people, LGTBIQ+ groups, among others.
4) Cross-secto public polices: Collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and the State security forces and bodies, for early detection and intervention in cases of related risk, as well as regulation of access to lethal means.
5) Prevention in the healthcare: Urgent and accessible to the health system when there is a risk of suicide, provide adequate follow-up and continuity of care for people at risk of suicide, and finally, improve and encourage support for caregivers and survivors.
6) Integration of resources and development of new communication mechanisms between the Ministry of Health and the autonomous communities.
7) Training for professionals, both within and outside the health system, who care for people at risk of suicide.
8) Support for crisis intervention teams: firefighters, police and 112 emergency service personnel.
In summary, the press conference provided the latest data on suicide in Spain and highlighted the public’s reception of the 024 service. The Ministry’s proposed action plan includes crucial points, but it is necessary to wait for the final document to draw more precise conclusions.