Suicide prevention: GPs professional views & practice experience

Background: Connecting for Life (CfL), Ireland’s national, coordinated, multifaceted strategy to reduce deaths by suicide and self-harm, recognises the important context that primary care plays in suicide prevention. Within this context, the General Practitioner (GP) plays a vital role. In May 2017, the Monitoring & Evaluation Team & Clinical Advisor in the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) designed a survey, which in conjunction with Irish College for General Practitioners (ICGP), was circulated to all members and associates of the ICGP. The findings from the survey are being used by the NOSP Clinical Advisor to identify needs and inform service planners to shape how services might be
better designed and delivered for and to, primary care practitioners to support their work with suicidal and self-harming persons.