Open verdicts should be included in all suicide research after excluding cases in which suicide was unlikely. Objective criteria are needed to facilitate comparison between different studies.

We evaluated police contact with individuals prior to suicide, using a systematic study of suicides within County Durham and Darlington over a 3-year period and analysis of police computer records covering the same area. A total of 205 cases of suicide were identified. A fifth of these (n=41) had a documented contact with police within 3 months prior to the suicide, there was an equal mixture of victims and alleged perpetrators of crime, and a significant number of those with police contact had also seen a health professional recently. As many people see a police officer in the 3 months prior to their suicide as see a mental health professional within 12 months prior to suicide. Our findings have implications for suicide prevention.

Reduced exposure to lethal methods was responsible for the fall in rate in both genders, while the gender difference in favour of women may be related to their preference for non-violent methods or to their being less affected by the social changes.

SummaryBoredom is highly prevalent among general hospital in-patients. Self-help strategies suit some patients, but for others hospitals need to stimulate opportunities for them to experience meaningful relationships and roles and a sense of control. In-patients' well-being and levels of boredom may be affected by no-smoking policies, hospital design, access to natural light, nature scenes and indoor or outdoor gardens. Alleviating boredom in elderly patients with reduced cognitive function may be particularly challenging. Healthcare professionals may face the wider challenge of fully engaging with patients' psychosocial needs, given the biomedical model that privileges the ‘traditional medical history’ over the more holistic communication model. Engaging with patients' psychosocial needs is consistent with managing their experience of 'sickness' rather than focusing on the narrower concept of ‘disease’.

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