Carlisle is the most northerly city in England, and the ... - NHS Cumbria

deceased’s intentions. Research studies show that most open verdicts are in fact suicides. Forthe purpose of measuring overall suicides, official suicides and open verdicts are combined.Men are more likely to commit suicide than women. The majority of suicides occur in youngmale adults under the age of 40.In Carlisle during the period 2003 – 05 there were 23 male suicides compared to 10 females, adirectly standardised rate of 23.4 men to 6.2 women. Therefore in Carlisle, men are almost fourtimes more likely to commit suicide than women. This compares with almost three to onenationally. Carlisle has a male suicide rate that is almost twice the national average and afemale suicide rate above the national average.There is an association between deprivation and suicide with rates being highest in the mostdeprived areas. Overall in Cumbria the rate of suicide in the most deprived areas is 18 per100,000 population compared to 7.1 in the least deprived.Figure 26: Mortality from Suicide25.00Mortality from all suicide and injury undetermined, persons, all agesRate/100,00020.0015.0010.005.000.00Eng & Wales Carlisle Carlisle trend16.2393 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 YearCarlisle Saving LivesTarget = 9.28 by 2010Figure 26 shows the suicide trend for Carlisle and District. From a rate of 7.9 per 100,000 of thepopulation in 1993, suicides peaked in 2004 at a level of 19.2. 2005 has seen a fall to a rate of16.2; however this is almost twice the national average. If the current trend continues Carlislewill fail to reach its target rate of 9.3 by 2010 as clearly shown by the trend data.17. Problem Drug Use.The Drug StrategyThe Drug Strategy is a cross-Government programme of policies and interventions thatconcentrate on the most dangerous drugs, the most damaged communities and problematicdrug users. The strategy comprises four strands of work• preventing young people from becoming drug misusers• reducing the supply of illegal drugs• increasing the number of individuals accessing effective drug treatment• and reducing drug-related crimeDrug action teams (DATs) are the partnerships responsible for delivering the drug strategy at alocal level.During the period 2006 /07 there were 114 offenders whose offence was attributed to Class ADrug offences in Carlisle. This represents 24% of the total 474 drug offenders in the county, justbehind Barrow which was 25%.Figure 27 illustrates the proportion of drug offences by local authority in Cumbria.Fiona Huntington 28 of 47