People attend the emergency department (ED) for help with their mental health, and this includes people who have harmed themselves or have thoughts of suicide (ending their life). These thoughts and actions are called suicidality, and it can increase the risk of someone dying by suicide. The ED is well placed to provide initial support and connect these people with further help to prevent suicide happening. Unfortunately, patients and staff often have poor experiences of care in the ED for suicidality. Not much research has been done which looks at the experiences of both these groups of people involved in the care, and almost none has been done in Scotland, where there is a higher number of suicides than in the rest of the UK.

This study aimed to find out how adult patients and staff experienced ED care related to suicidality. By understanding the problem from the people who are involved, future changes are more likely to be helpful. People who took part were asked to complete an interview about their experiences of care. A total of six people took part in the study, five staff and one patient. The interviews were audio recorded, written up, and looked at in detail. The things people spoke about were grouped into common themes.

By doing this, peoples’ experiences of suicidality care in the ED were grouped into four themes: 1) focusing on what is important; 2) coping with emotional impact of care; 3) relying on teams working together; and 4) the ability of the ED to help people. When compared to other studies, the problem of ED care for suicidality seemed to be the disconnections between support networks; the people involved in care; and a person’s physical and mental health.

These findings help understand staff and patient experiences of suicidality care in the Scotland ED, which can be used to plan future changes that may improve care. However, we also need to understand how to help patients take part in research like this, and get more views from other people involved in wider care for suicidality.