Managing self-harm in young people presenting to the emergency department and challenges in navigating the national guidelines

Abstract

Suicide is the most common cause of death for young people in the UK and around 50% of completed suicides in young people have previous self-harm as a theme. Hence, robust management of young people presenting with self-harm to the emergency department is crucial. Guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of Psychiatrists advise an overnight admission for under-16s with self-harm, which is a challenge during winter pressures or bed shortages. In this editorial we discuss the difficulties faced when navigating NICE 2004 guidance documents with the realities of the coalface and consider the prospects for current practice and the future with the NICE 2022 guidance.

Keywords

• Epidemiology
• community mental health teams
• self-harm
• NICE guidelines
• RCPsych guidelines