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General hospital services for those who carry out deliberate self-harm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Tom Hughes*
Affiliation:
Level 5, Clinical Sciences Building, St James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF
Susan Hampshaw
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Audit
Edward Renvoize
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Audit
David Storer
Affiliation:
Department of Liaison Psychiatry, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3EX
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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The Royal College of Psychiatrists has published national guidelines for services for those who carry out deliberate self-harm. This study aimed to discover whether these recommendations are being followed. We conducted a semi-structured interview with a professional from the accident and emergency service and one from the specialist service at each of 16 hospitals in the former Yorkshire Regional Health Authority. The findings are that services are not adhering to the guidelines. The production of guidelines without an adequate implementation strategy is ineffective. The Department of Health should endorse the College guidelines, and produce an implementation strategy to secure the involvement of purchasers and providers.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

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