NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care

The Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership is helping organisations work better together with people and communities. We want people across all our boroughs to stay well, whatever their age, and whatever issues or conditions they might be managing.

We’re bringing together all the different organisations that support people’s health and social care, so that services can join up and act faster when people need support. Integrated care means starting with the person, understanding they’ll have different needs as they move through life, and connecting them with the right care.

How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?

The vision of NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership is that no-one will see suicide as a solution and our ambition is that there will be no more suicides in Greater Manchester. We are therefore working to reduce suicide across Greater Manchester whilst also improving the support available for those bereaved and affected by suicide.

A Greater Manchester approach presents an opportunity to achieve parity of access for all our residents, through a combination of a framework for action to which all boroughs can pledge their support and the potential for economies of scale when commissioning interventions for the whole of Greater Manchester. It also allows us to promote the prevention of suicide as everyone’s business, with key stakeholders including the media, joining forces with communities and the professionals working within them, to break the stigma surrounding suicide and to act to reduce suicide. The Greater Manchester Suicide Prevention Steering Group consists of statutory and non-statutory services, voluntary sector and charity partners and includes members who have personal experience of suicidal thoughts and suicide bereavement. We are committed to working together to take forward the Greater Manchester Suicide Prevention Strategy, with the shared goal of reducing suicide across the region and this is supported by the work undertaken by the Suicide Prevention Groups in each of the ten Greater Manchester Boroughs.

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What are your current priorities?

– To further promote our Shining a Light on Suicide campaign across Greater Manchester reaching an even wider audience, with the aim of reducing stigma and engaging more people in our suicide prevention efforts.

-To continue to develop the Greater Manchester Bereavement Service to ensure it is meeting the needs of all impacted by bereavement – including suicide bereavement – across the city region.

– To develop our Real Time Surveillance to cover more areas of Greater Manchester so early notification of deaths suspected to be by suicide lead to earlier support.

– To increase the number of people who have completed suicide prevention training.

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What challenges are you currently facing?

Increasing economic adversity following on from the challenges of the Covid pandemic has led to increased numbers of people struggling day to day. It is more important than ever that our suicide prevention activity widens and engages everyone who is in a position to make a life-saving difference.

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