West Lothian project to help prevent suicide wins three years' funding

The local health and social care partnership agreed a £2.4m contract after a pilot project was set up in March this year. The Distress Brief Intervention programme aims to provide help to people in acute distress within 24 hours of first contact.

The number of probable suicides is on the increase

In a year which saw the number of probable suicides rise across Scotland the initiative is seen as crucial in helping people who feel they have nowhere to turn.

The number of probable suicides in West Lothian in 2023 was 24, compared to 18 in 2022 and 30 in 2021.

This increase was reflected of Scotland’s figures which saw an increase from 762 in 2022 to 792 in 2023. 

Health and social care professionals have been working on programmes, which look at suicide risk factors, including poverty and addictions, as well as the help available for those who are in severe emotional distress but who have not been diagnosed with mental illness.

A report to the recent meeting of the local Integration Joint Board said: “There has long been a gap in our provision for people who do not have a mental illness but present in a distressed state to unscheduled care services such as the Acute Care and Support Team (ACAST) at St John’s Hospital.”

It added: “Implementing a Distress Brief Intervention Service (DBI) to meet this gap has been an aspiration for some time, with DBI providing an assertive offer of help to those people in acute distress, with an offer of contact within 24 hours.”

The contract will provide staff for a Community Link Worker and Well-being Practitioner Service. This forms part of the larger West Lothian Community Well-being Hubs Service that is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team including NHS colleagues from Occupational Therapy, Community Mental Health Nurses (CMHN), and Psychology, and is a response to the increased mental health workload of GPs in the locality. 

The introduction of the DBI programme is part of a broader strategy- the West Lothian Suicide Prevention Programme – which is being developed for 2025-28.