The ambulance attendance data includes 1-month per quarter snapshots from Victoria (Vic), Tasmania (Tas) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from March 2018 to December 2021, New South Wales (NSW) from March 2018 to September 2021, and Queensland (Qld) from March 2020 to September 2021. AIHW began receiving monthly data for NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas and the ACT from January 2021.
See Data development activities to learn more about the ongoing developments relating to ambulance attendance data funded through this project.
Self-harm related ambulance attendances are included if self-harm occurred in the preceding (past 24 hours) or during the ambulance attendance, with 4 categories of self-harm related ambulance attendances defined and coded as:
- self-injury (non-fatal intentional injury without suicidal intent)
- suicidal ideation (thinking about killing oneself without acting on the thoughts)
- suicide attempt (non-fatal intentional injury with suicidal intent, regardless of likelihood of lethality)
- suicide (fatal intentional injury with suicidal intent).
Suicide, suicide attempt and suicidal ideation are considered mutually exclusive; however, self-injury could be simultaneously coded with any other self-harm case category.
The number of attendances related to suicide is under-represented as ambulances do not attend all deaths. Furthermore, when they do attend there may be insufficient information to determine suicidal intent at the scene. Rates of death by suicide have not been calculated because of small numbers, which may affect the reliability of the estimates.
For more information, see Data sources - National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS).
How many ambulance attendances for suicidal and self-harm behaviours?
In 2020, ambulances attended a total of around 33,000 incidents involving suicidal thoughts and behaviours (suicidal ideation or suicide attempt) in the NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas and the ACT during the months of March, June, September and December. Over one third (36%) of these attendances occurred in NSW, in line with the population distribution between those jurisdictions.
Taking into consideration the population differences of the above 5 jurisdictions, the rate of ambulance attendances per 100,000 population for suicidal ideation in 2020 were:
- 103.3 in NSW (around 8,400 attendances)
- 90.9 in Vic (nearly 6,100 attendances)
- 130.9 in Qld (around 6,800 attendances)
- 52.0 in Tas (about 280 attendances)
- 93.2 in the ACT (about 400 attendances).
(Supplementary table National Ambulance Surveillance System–self-harm behaviours AMB S1).
Attendance rates for suicide attempts (by comparison, were lower than ideation in all 5 jurisdictions. Rates of attendances for suicide attempts per 100,000 population in 2020 were:
- 41.3 in NSW (nearly 3,400 attendances)
- 50.2 in Vic (nearly 3,400 attendances)
- 72.4 in Qld (over 3,700 attendances)
- 46.1 in Tas (about 250 attendances)
- 60.5 in the ACT (about 260 attendances).
Self-injury accounted for a relatively smaller number of attendances. These behaviours could be solely present in an attendance or present in conjunction with other suicidal and self-harm behaviours.
In 2020, ambulances in NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas and the ACT attended a total of around 6,400 incidents involving self-injury during the months of March, June, September and, December; 38% of which occurred in NSW.
In 2020, the rate of ambulance attendances per 100,000 population with self-injury present was:
- 29.8 in NSW (over 2,400 attendances)
- 25.3 in Vic (nearly 1,700 attendances)
- 38.3 in Qld (nearly 2,000 attendances)
- 17.0 in Tas (about 90 attendances)
- 36.4 in the ACT (over 150 attendances).
(Supplementary table National Ambulance Surveillance System–self-harm behaviours S1).
Gender variations
There are distinct differences between genders when examining deaths by suicide and intentional self-harm hospitalisations; higher rates of deaths by suicide are seen in males compared with females (see Deaths by suicide over time) while females have higher rates of hospitalisations for intentional self-harm (see Intentional self-harm hospitalisations).
Ambulance attendances however, provide further context to these gender differences. Ambulance attendances capture if the intent of the self-harm was suicidal and therefore can provide information on the extent of these behaviours in the community.
In general, in 2020:
- Rates of ambulance attendances for suicide attempt and self-injury were higher for females than males.
- In the ACT, the rate of attendances for suicidal ideation was higher for females than males, while in NSW the rate for males was higher. The rates in Vic, QLD and Tas were not substantially different between males and females.
The interactive data visualisation shows ambulance attendances for males and females by each attendance type and for each of the five participating states and territories.