Table 4.
Contact with services and risk characteristics of in-patient suicide cases by leave status
| Absconders (n = 469) |
Agreed leave (n = 761) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feature | N | % | N | % | P-value |
| Contact with services | |||||
| Observation level: high or medium | 117 | 31% | 22 | 9% | < 0.001 |
| Suicide during period of planning discharge | 107 | 28% | 358 | 58% | < 0.001 |
| Died within first week of admission | 55 | 19% | 37 | 8% | < 0.001 |
| Died within local in-patient unit | 185 | 69% | 271 | 64% | 0.20 |
| Detained under MHA* | 136 | 29% | 130 | 17% | < 0.001 |
| Observation problems with ward design | 93 | 22% | 77 | 11% | < 0.001 |
| Observation problems with other patients | 31 | 7% | 26 | 4% | 0.01 |
| Risk | |||||
| Symptoms at last contact | 311 | 68% | 388 | 52% | < 0.001 |
| Immediate risk: medium or high | 111 | 25% | 79 | 11% | < 0.001 |
| Long-term risk: medium or high | 208 | 57% | 282 | 48% | 0.003 |
| Suicide thought to be preventable | 146 | 33% | 149 | 21% | < 0.001 |
* Mental Health Act