A system for monitoring all deliberate self-harm presentations has been in place in the general hospital in Oxford for 30 years. Based on the authors’ experience, this paper describes procedures for monitoring, including case definition & identification, linkage of persons & episodes in order to investigate repetition of deliberate self-harm & other outcomes (including deaths), & data protection & ethical issues. Different models of data collection & what data to collect are discussed. The potential uses of the data for both clinical & research purposes, including evaluation of national suicide prevention initiatives, is considered. (35 refs.)