Mental and physical health should be treated equally and vulnerable people should be encouraged to seek help.
The rail industry supports the government’s target of a 10% reduction in suicides by 2020 and calls for appropriate resources to be made available to ensure it is achieved.
There should be compulsory suicide prevention training for all those in the health sector.
The British Transport Police and the rail industry through Network Rail should engage with all local authorities when creating Suicide Prevention Action Plans to ensure that they have the fullest picture of local trends.
More should be done in schools to make our young people aware of mental health issues to allow them to look after themselves and others at any point through life’s journey.
We should not have to rely on the British Transport Police supporting vulnerable people until appropriate medical facilities become available for them – a situation brought about by the lack of adequate health care provision for those most at risk in our society.
The sharing of information held by public bodies with the British Transport Police should be a positive requirement rather than the current cautious approach based around data protection requirements.