Northern Ireland's shocking hospital records of self-harm
BY KATHRYN TORNEY
THE mental anguish facing thousands of people across Northern Ireland can be seen in new figures obtained by The Detail which show that our hospital emergency departments dealt with 2,830 episodes of self-harm and/or people struggling with suicidal thoughts over one three month period.
Forty-one of the cases recorded between April 1 2012 and the end of June 2012 involved children aged under 15 – including 22 drugs overdoses and 11 children who had self-harmed with a sharp object.
The Detail has been given rare access to information contained in the Northern Ireland Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm in response to a Freedom of Information request.
