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Mentally Ill: Homicide

Volume 456: debated on Tuesday 6 February 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Health which reports addressing homicides by mentally ill patients her Department produced in each of the last 20 years. (118920)

[holding answer 5 February 2007]: In the last 20 years, the Department commissioned the National Confidential Inquiry into Homicide and Suicide by People with Mental Illness to produce two reports relating to homicides by people in touch with mental health services. These are “Safety First”, which was published in 1999, and “Safer Services”, which was published in 2001. The third report of the National Confidential Inquiry, “Avoidable Deaths”, was commissioned by the National Patient Safety Agency and published under the auspices of the Centre for Suicide Prevention at the University of Manchester in 2006.

Independent investigation of homicides committed by someone in touch with mental health services were commissioned by the relevant local health authority and are now commissioned by the relevant strategic health authority. Between 1994 and 2005, these were commissioned under “Health Service Guideline 94(27)”. Since June 2005, such investigations have been commissioned in line with revised guidance entitled “Independent investigation of adverse events in mental health services”. The Department does not routinely collect the reports of such inquires which remain the property of the commissioning authorities.