Care for people who self-harm 'must be improved'

NICE says more needs to be done to support people who self-harm

The health and medicines watchdog NICE says care for people who self-harm isn't good enough.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has today published new guidance to improve standards.

It claims judgemental and negative attitudes by some hospital staff can result in some patients going on to deliberately harm themselves again.

NICE says around 220,000 people who self-harm are treated in hospital in England every year.

Get more information on self-harm on the Radio 1 website

Professor Nav Kapur from the University of Manchester is behind the new guidelines.

He said: "People who self-harm should get the same respect, dignity and compassion as anyone else that comes into hospital."

NICE has now recommended that everyone who ends up in hospital after self-harming is given a full psychological assessment to try and work out why they've harmed themselves.

Amy started to self-harm as a teenager

Amy Ratnett, 28, started to self-harm as a teenager. She spoke to Newsbeat about her experiences in May 2013.

She said: "I was in such a routine, stuck in a rut, that I didn't think of the consequences."

She used self-poisoning as a way to hurt herself, and regularly needed hospital treatment.

"I would come home from work on a Friday evening, take an overdose, call an ambulance, spend the weekend in hospital and then go back to work on a Monday as if nothing had happened," she said.

Find out more about Amy's story

"We want to help young people who experience a mental health problem and are spending over £50 million to boost their access to psychological therapies so they don't suffer in silence," said a spokesperson for the Department of Health.

"We welcome the NICE quality standard on self-harm which will help healthcare professionals to provide high quality care."

The Royal College of Psychiatrists says the rate of self-harm has continued to rise in the UK over the past 20 years.

NICE says it hopes better medical assessments will reduce the number of hospital admissions for self-harm.

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