Ann Luce is a Professor of Journalism & Health Communication at BU. She has spent the last 18 years researching and writing about suicide and mental illness in both the UK and USA. Her recent research focuses on suicide in NHS workplaces, and their effect on the workforce.
Ann’s research has led to practical recommendations for the NHS to protect the wellbeing of its staff, ensuring her work has an ongoing positive impact on the lives of healthcare workers and their loved ones.
Professor Ann Luce“My area of research is difficult and sensitive, but it’s one we can’t ignore. When we look at suicide rates in this country, we see that some people are at higher risk simply due to their jobs – doctors and female nurses die by suicide between two and a half and four times more often that the general population. We all saw during the COVID-19 pandemic how stressful working in healthcare can be, so it’s understandable this can come at a cost to those people’s own mental health.
On top of this, exposure to suicide increases the risk to those who’ve been bereaved by it – not just family members, but colleagues too. Yet we know that in many NHS Trusts there’s no obligation to have the processes and procedures in place aimed at supporting colleagues after a suicide and preventing more from taking place. In many ways, it’s understandable how this happens – when topics are difficult or sensitive, it can seem easier to ignore them.
But we felt this has to change. So, our research took us into an NHS Trust to speak directly to staff about what happens after a colleague’s suicide. And of course, those aren’t easy or pleasant or conversations to have. But we felt that unless we understand what happens, and how people feel about it, we’ll never be able to turn the tide.
If you find problems, create solutions
What we found was concerning – after a suicide, those in charge were not communicating clearly to staff, and were not providing good enough support to those who’d been affected. But we knew that pointing out failings and problems wouldn’t be enough, nor would it be helpful. To make change happen, our focus was to create resources that NHS Trusts can actually use to design step-by-step plans to follow if these difficult situations arise.
We created one model to help managers communicate to staff in a compassionate way, ensuring that staff are informed in a sensitive and timely way. It also covers guidance for things like using social media and WhatsApp, recognising that colleagues might use these platforms to share news. The other model offers best practice guidance with five stages for support that should be provided after a suicide, including staff training programmes.
Our hopes for the future
I was delighted to see my recent submission to the House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee inquiry into ‘Progress in Improving NHS Mental Health Services’ referenced in its final report. Sharing our research with Parliament, as well as Government, is often a key step for us – these Committees can be hugely influential in recommending Government’s next moves in a policy area.
Next up, we will be working with the Derby & Derbyshire Integrated Care Board. Its leaders have asked us to help ensure their suicide prevention and communication procedures are the best they can be. It’s fantastic to be called in to help directly; we’ll be able to have valuable conversations about what they’re planning and hopefully get feedback on how it’s going.
On a wider level, we’ve had great success with NHS England, which is using the research as supporting evidence for its National Suicide Prevention Toolkit for England, which will be implemented across all NHS Trusts in the country. It’s been shared with all Mental Health Chief Nurses, Mental Health Nurse Academics, Mental Health Nurse Consultants, the NHS England Suicide Prevention Special Interest Group and the Royal College of Psychiatry.
Our work has also fed into the Department for Health & Social Care’s broader Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, which has recognised higher rates of suicide among some occupations – and agrees with us that it’s imperative that employers to take targeted action to reduce them. It’s in their interests to protect NHS staff as best they can; we rely on our healthcare workers to look after us, so they should be looked after too.”