![\"Lucy,](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article12342363.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver.jpg\")
More than 300 nurses have taken their own lives in just seven years, shocking new figures reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the worst year, one was dying by suicide EVERY WEEK<\/strong> as Tory cuts began to bite deep into the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today victims\u2019 families call for vital early mental health training and support for young nurses \u2013 and an end to a \u201cbullying and toxic culture\u201d in the health service which leaves them afraid to ask for help in their darkest moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One mum \u2013 whose trainee nurse daughter Lucy de Oliveira killed herself while juggling other jobs to make ends meet \u2013 told us: \u201cThey\u2019re working all hours God sends doing a really important job. Most of them would be better off working in McDonald\u2019s. That can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth has called for a government inquiry into the \u201calarming\u201d figures \u2013 23 per cent higher than the national average \u2013 from 2011 to 2017, the latest year on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery life lost is a desperate tragedy,\u201d he said. \u201cThe health and wellbeing of NHS staff must never be compromised.\u201dSign up to FREE daily email alerts from Mirror – Daily newsSubscribeWe will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see ourPrivacy Notice<\/a>for details of your data protection rights<\/p>\n\n\n\n His call is backed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) which wants the Government and NHS do more to stop up to 54 nurse suicides a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RCN chief Dame Donna Kinnair said: \u201cNursing staff experience high levels of stress, a shortage of colleagues and long working hours. Our members repeatedly say their employers ignore or disregard mental health issues. They feel they \u2018should cope\u2019. We must all redouble our efforts to support nursing staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, show 305 killed themselves over the seven-year period. Data revealed 32 suicides were recorded in 2017. This was down from 51 nurses aged from 20 to 64 in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the highest total was 54, recorded in 2014. And a recent study has shown female nurses are more at risk of suicide than other professions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The family of Laura Hyde \u2013 an A&E nurse at Derriford Hospital, Devon, who took her life at 27 in August 2016 \u2013 want mental health training for nursing students and a 24-hour helpline at every trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her cousin Liam Barnes, who launched the Laura Hyde Foundation to fight for this, said: \u201cNurses love caring for people. Laura was selfless. But they are in a constant cycle of trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPaediatric nurses are telling parents their children have died. They\u2019re seeing car crash victims and horrific injuries daily. Constantly exposed to regular trauma, they forget to look after themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lucy de Oliveira, 22 \u2013 daughter of Liz and Barnabe \u2013 died by suicide in 2017 while training in Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liz, 61, said a \u201ctoxic culture\u201d meant younger nurses never asked for help, afraid mental health issues would be a blot on their record. She said: \u201cSenior staff say \u2018We did it, knuckle down\u2019. It\u2019s like saying, \u2018I worked in a factory at 12.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just because you did it, it doesn\u2019t make it right. There\u2019s a bullying you wouldn\u2019t expect in the NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During her training, Lucy wasn\u2019t paid. Her bursary covered her \u201cgrotty\u201d accommodation leaving her with \u00a36 to live on a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn top of three 12-hour shifts at hospitals she was working at a pizza restaurant and a care home,\u201d says Liz, of Kidderminster, Worcs. \u201cI can\u2019t bring Lucy back. All I can do is make sure there\u2019s change as a legacy for her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2016, nurse Ann Burdett, 51, killed herself after becoming stressed at work at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 51-year-old had made two previous suicide attempts that saw her referred to mental health services on May 19, her second attempt. But just a week later she was dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her fianc\u00e9 Andrew Ward, 49, said she also had family issues. But he added: \u201cEverybody should be aware of the stress involved in working for the health service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere should be some sort of website or blog within the health service where people can vent their anxieties or give advice to others. It would be a solution if there was a mentor system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The RCN said guidance at work was not good enough, and conditions were getting worse for overworked nurses with a national shortage of 40,000. Dame Kinnair said: \u201cThe Government and all NHS bodies must take a detailed look at why female nurses are much more likely to take their lives than male counterparts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Health and Social Care said: \u201cThe NHS will shortly set out its response to recommendations which will improve mental health support for staff, including access to a dedicated confidential helpline.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n COMMENT by Dr Alys Cole-King of 4 Mental Health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is rarely one cause for suicide, though specific pressures female nurses face may increase their vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nurses experience a range of stresses and have significant responsibilities with high expectations. They may work under pressure in difficult circumstances. And like many others in healthcare, nurses may avoid talking about stress, mental ill health and suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Female nurses may have a greater role at home, and may struggle to care for themselves while caring for both their patients and their own families. Such non-stop pressure may take its toll on their mental health. Financial worries and debt have also been linked to suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suicide is thankfully rare, but of course always tragic. It is important to know that people considering suicide can be supported through their distress to recovery. Being compassionate and having confidence to talk to someone in distress and motivate them to get help, can all have a positive impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As well as tackling NHS work pressure, nursing students should be taught more about dealing with the emotional burden of caring for others. As well as the technical side of training, self-care should be given equal status to other aspects of training. All nurses should be encouraged to make a Safety Plan, a mental health equivalent of putting on a car seat belt. A Safety Plan is a personal set of things to help keep someone safe in times of distress including who to contact for support if needed. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" EXCLUSIVE: Heartbreakingly high suicide figures reveal the struggle nurses face on a daily basis By Alan Selby More than 300 nurses have taken their own lives in just seven years, shocking new figures reveal. During the worst year, one was dying by suicide EVERY WEEK as Tory cuts began to bite deep into the NHS. Today victims\u2019 […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"tpgb_global_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"tpgb_featured_images":{"full":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver.jpg",810,539,false],"tp-image-grid":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver.jpg",700,466,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver.jpg",810,539,false],"default":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/plugins\/the-plus-addons-for-block-editor\/assets\/images\/tpgb-placeholder.jpg"},"tpgb_post_meta_info":{"get_date":"November 19, 2019","get_modified_date":"November 19, 2019","category_list":{"category":[{"term_id":19,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":238,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":false,"post_format":false},"author_name":"Hope To Heal","author_url":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/author\/hope2233\/","author_email":"webmaster@hopetoheal.org.za","author_website":"","author_description":"Our mission is for women and children to live free from violence and abuse and to provide quality, compassionate, and nonjudgmental services in a manner that fosters self-respect and independence in persons experiencing domestic violence and child abuse and to lead the struggle to end domestic violence through advocacy and community education.","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Hope To","author_lastname":"Heal Foundation","user_login":"Hope2233","author_avatar":"![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article12342363.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Parents-Barnabe-and-Liv-de-Oliveira-paid-tribute-after-an-inquest-found-their-daughter-Lucy-a-Liver.jpg\")
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READ MORE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Safety Plan that could help to save more lives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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