Samaritans calls for emergency worker support as suicide and self-harm call outs rise

Suicide prevention charity Samaritans called for the Government to provide standard suicide prevention training and wellbeing support for all emergency workers.

This comes after data found a sharp rise in suicide and self-harm call outs across England. 

Ambulance services in England responded to 32,143 more suicide and self-harm incidents in 2024 than in 2023, with one region handling almost double the number of cases compared to last year.

A Freedom of Information request from Samaritans received replies from eight out of 11 NHS ambulance services in England, all of which reported an increase in suicide and self-harm call outs over the year. 

Earlier in 2024, a parliamentary question revealed suicide call outs for fire and rescue services in England also reached a record high and had tripled since 2014.

Despite the rise, there is still no required suicide prevention training for police, fire and rescue or ambulance workers, and no consistent wellbeing support for staff, according to the Samaritans.

Samaritans urged the Government to ensure all emergency services have the resources and requirement to provide staff with the training and support needed for suicide prevention.

Elliot Colburn, public affairs and campaigns manager at Samaritans, said: “Emergency service workers are attending rising suicide-related call outs without always having the specific training and support that would better prepare them for these challenging situations – a national problem that demands a national solution.