FOI Officer Suicide (0686-2024/25)

Request
Q1.  Please provide a copy of your policy for dealing with officers who say they have suicidal thoughts.

The  senior coroner for Greater Manchester North, Joanne Kearsley has recently commented on the treatment of a West Yorkshire student officer, Anugrah Abraham, who killed himself: 

'Kearsley also said the triaging of Abraham’s case was “flawed” after he had disclosed the suicidal thoughts and that he should have been offered an urgent face-to-face appointment with the force’s occupational health unit.'

https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2024%2Foct%2F29%2Fend-fear-discipline-police-culture-family-trainee-killed-himself&data=05%7C02%7CCivilDisclosure%40northyorkshire.police.uk%7Cf355f6b71c3149f2c6e508dcfc4c117a%7C2c84bc9193af476e9721cdad67cb3ead%7C0%7C0%7C638662650865140316%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=r8PQRWl27JcrrRKm%2BS30mgHgtomb9CKrIJAfjR7hTqQ%3D&reserved=0 

Q2.  For the year 2023/24, please provide (i) the number of officers offered urgent face-to-face appointments with your occupational health unit because of suicidal thoughts and (ii) the number of appointments officers had with your occupational health unit because of suicidal thoughts.

Q3.  Please provide the number of staff in your occupational health unit (FTE).

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.  

Decision
I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

Q1. North Yorkshire Police does not have a formal policy, however, please see attached a copy of the guidance notes for use by counsellors when they are concerned regarding the immediate wellbeing of an employee due to risk of suicide or self-harm.

Q2.  This information is not recorded separately and would require a review of every file held.

Q3.The overall combined staff roles total 11.43 full-time equivalent (FTE). Please note that this figure includes the Health and Wellbeing Manager and non-clinical administration roles.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.