Minutes of Meeting of Central Statistics Office (CSO) Liaison Group on Suicide Mortality Statistics 

CSO Offices, Rathmines, Dublin

January 14th 2016

In attendance:  Paul M. Crowley, James Barrett and Carol Anne Hennessy (CSO), Bernadette Smith (GRO), Deirdre O'Reilly (Irish Prison Service representing the Department of Justice), Susan Kenny for Gerry Raleigh (National Office for Suicide Prevention), Gillian McKenna for Ciaran Austin (Console), Suzi Lyons (Health Research Board), Sandra Walsh for Colm Desmond (Department of Health) Ella Arensman and Eileen Williamson (NSRF) by teleconference.

Apologies:  Gurchand Singh (Department of Justice) and Brian Farrell (Dublin City Coroner).

Agenda

Date:   14^th January, 2016.

Meeting of Central Statistics Office (CSO) Liaison Group on Suicide Mortality Statistics

• Agree Minutes of the previous meeting held on the 11^th June, 2015.

• Review of the Form 104

 (Following discussion at last meeting, it was agreed that all members would review Form 104 and would revert with comments which would then be circulated to all members and discussed at the next meeting               (14\01\2016).  Comments attached documents 1 and 2.

• CSO intended project  of  matching suicide deaths to Census deprivation index

• Comment by NSRF on CSO 2013 Suicide Statistics  -   See  attached Document 3

• ICD-11 Update – See attached document 4

• Date and location of next meeting

• AOB

Agenda item no 1 - Agree Minutes of the previous meeting of the 11^th June, 2015.

Minutes agreed.

Agenda item no 2 - Review of Form 104

The value of the form 104 in its current format was discussed.  It was highlighted that gardai are generally not in a position to provide the medical background of the deceased.  Also as the form 104 is issued by the CSO after the registration of the death by the coroner, a significant period of time may have elapsed and the garda that attended the scene of the death may not remember clearly the events or may have been transferred to a different Unit.   It was also suggested that the garda that attended the scene of the death may not always be the person that completes the form 104.  There is anecdotal evidence that sometimes a more senior officer, in administration, would complete the form which would further dilute the value of the form 104.  It was suggested that the form C71 that is completed by the Gardaí at the time the death occurred (and given to the Coroner) may be of greater value than the form 104.

The CSO offered to analyse the ‘completeness’ of the forms 104 received in 2013, looking at the information provided and the question that are left blank.  Furthermore, the CSO will look at the value of the information provided on the form 104 to see the effect, if any, on the underlying cause of death that was originally attributed to the deceased.

It was agreed that ideally the Coroner should state whether a death was a suicide or not a suicide.  The Coroner’s reporting form is under review at present and Bernadette Smith of the GRO agreed to suggest to the Coroners (on behalf of the Suicide Liaison Group) to agree to 2 additional questions being added i.e. Was the death a suicide or not a suicide.

Eileen Williamson is to apply to the CSO to become an Officer of Statistics to analyse the mortality data for 2013.  The NSRF are particularly interested in how the CSO have coded deaths that received an open verdict in the Coroners’ court.  In 2013, the number of open verdicts from only 3 Coroners significantly exceeded the total number of deaths of undetermined intent in that year.

Action:

• The CSO is to carry out a more detailed analysis of the forms 104 issued and received for 2013.
• The CSO is to contact Department of Justice to get a blank form C71 and see the information requested on this form and enquire if this information can be made available to the CSO.
• The GRO to request that the Coroners group add 2 additional questions to their form.  In Coroner’s opinion was the death (a) a suicide or (b) not a suicide.
• The CSO to investigate further if the Pulse data is a useful source of information
• The NSRF (Eileen Williamson) is to apply to become an Officer of Statistics to carry out further analysis on deaths given an open verdict in 2013.
• Sandra Walsh (Department of Health) is to revert to Paul Crowley regarding a representative from the CSO in the Connecting for Life group.

Agenda item no 3 - CSO intended project of matching suicide deaths to Census deprivation index.

Names and addresses will be captured in the 2016 Census that will be carried out in April next. It is hoped that all deaths can be linked to this index in due course.  The CSO are to look at the matching software that is used by Census staff.  This project is on hold until this is done as the amount of time involved in manual matching of addresses is time-consuming and resources are not available at present.

Agenda item no 4 - Comment by the NSRF on CSO 2013 Suicide Statistics.

Ella Arensman is to amend this document and recirculate.  There is an increase in the number of deaths in the age 65 and over male category in 2013 while the number of suicides for females is the same for the last 3 years to 2013. 

Action:

• The NSRF to amend and recirculate the document ‘Comment by NSRF on CSO 2013 Suicide Statistics’.

Agenda item no 5 - ICD-11 Update

The NSRF highlighted the work being done on the finalisation of the ICD-11 classification and how it could have implications for the ‘Connecting for Life’ strategy if introduced during the lifetime of the strategy.   The CSO advised that per their UK colleagues that 2021 appears to be the earliest in which ICD-11 classification is used for the first time and it is up to each country to make its own decision to transfer to ICD-11 cause of death classification.

Agenda item no 6 - Date and location of next meeting

The NSRF are organising the next meeting sometime in May, the date to be finalised in due course.  The next meeting will also take place in the CSO offices in Rathmines,

Action:

• The NSRF to revert to group with date of next meeting.
• The CSO to book meeting room in Ardee Road.

Carol Anne Hennessy

16^th January, 2016.