A NEW study from Oxford has revealed the health service costs for hospital care of people who self-harm, which researchers say emphasises the need for effective clinical services and prevention initiatives.

Self-harm by intentional poisoning or self-injury is a ‘very common’ reason for presentation to hospital, especially in young people, according to researchers from Oxford University.

They said it is often repeated and carries a significant risk of future suicide.

Researchers from the university and the London School of Economics linked information from a register of people presenting to a large general hospital following self-harm to financial records in order to estimate the economic costs of their medical and psychiatric care. In a report published in The Lancet Psychiatry, they showed that the average cost for each episode of self-harm was £809, with higher costs for adolescents than adults. They estimated that if such costs apply to all self-harm episodes presenting to hospitals in England the overall cost to the NHS amounts to £162m a year.

Professor Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at the university’s department of psychiatry, said: “The findings of this study highlight the need for high quality services for people who self-harm to provide effective medical care and to ensure that patients receive careful psychiatric assessment in order to plan suitable aftercare. The findings also underline the need for large-scale initiatives to prevent self-harm, such as school-based psychological well-being classes and other community programmes.”