AIHW began receiving monthly ambulance attendance data for New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Vic), Queensland (Qld), Tasmania (Tas) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from January 2021. Monthly data have been received until June 2022 for ACT, Qld, and Vic, and until March 2022 for Tas and NSW. Prior to this, data included 1-month per quarter snapshots from Victoria (Vic), Tasmania (Tas), the ACT, and NSW from March 2018 to December 2020, and Qld from March 2020 to December 2020.
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 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 attempts, injuries, or 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 ideation, and suicidal and self-harm behaviours?
2021
Throughout 2021, across NSW, Vic, Qld, Tas and the ACT, ambulances attended around 92,000, or an average around 7,700 incidents each month, that involved suicidal thoughts and behaviours (suicidal ideation or suicide attempt).
During 2021, the average monthly rates of ambulance attendances per 100,000 population for suicidal ideation or suicide attempt were:
- 34 in NSW (the lowest monthly rate was 29 and the highest was 40)
- 31 in Vic (the lowest monthly rate was 26 and the highest 36)
- 50 in Qld (the lowest monthly rate was 43 and the highest 55)
- 28 in Tas (the lowest monthly rate was 24 and the highest 34)
- 38 in the ACT (the lowest monthly rate was 31 and the highest 47)
Generally, for all 5 jurisdictions across 2021, average monthly rates of ambulance attendances per 100,000 population is highest for suicidal ideation, followed by suicide attempts, and lowest for self-injury. However, for Tas and the ACT, there are individual months where the rate of suicide attempts is higher than the rate of suicidal ideation.
Across jurisdictions in 2021, the highest rate of ambulance attendances for suicidal ideation occurred in Qld while the lowest rate occurred in Tas. There were fewer clear differences, between the jurisdictions, for rates of self-injury and suicide attempts attendances during 2021.
During 2021, the average monthly rates (per 100,000 population) of ambulance attendances with self-injury present were:
- 7.7 in NSW (range 6.4 to 9.3)
- 6.5 in Vic (range 5.5 to 7.6)
- 9.6 in Qld (range 7.4 to 11)
- 5.9 in Tas (range 2.8 to 7.7)
- 9.6 in the ACT (range 7.9 to 11)
During 2021, the average monthly rates (per 100,000 population) of ambulance attendances for suicide attempts were:
- 9.7 in NSW (range 8.4 to 12)
- 12 in Vic (range 9.8 to 14)
- 18 in Qld (range 15 to 20)
- 13 in Tas (range 9.5 to 17)
- 15 in the ACT (range 12 to 20).
During 2021, the average monthly rates (per 100,000 population) of ambulance attendances for suicidal ideation were:
- 24 in NSW (range 21 to 28)
- 19 in Vic (range 16 to 23)
- 32 in Qld (range 28 to 35)
- 15 in Tas (range 13 to 19)
- 23 in the ACT (range 19 to 27).
2022
Data from January until June 2022 is currently available for ACT, Qld, and Vic only.
From January until June 2022, the average monthly rates (per 100,000 population) of ambulance attendances with self-injury present were:
- 5.9 in Vic (range 5.1 to 6.7)
- 8.5 in Qld (range 6.7 to 9.9)
- 6.9 in ACT (range 3.1 to 9.9).
From January until June 2022, the average monthly rates (per 100,000 population) of ambulance attendances for suicide attempts were:
- 10 in Vic (range 9.0 to 11)
- 17 in Qld (range 14 to 19)
- 12 in ACT (range 10 to 14).
From January until June 2022, the average monthly rates (per 100,000 population) of ambulance attendances for suicidal ideation were:
- 15 in Vic (range 13 to 17)
- 28 in Qld (range 24 to 31)
- 16 in ACT (range 9.9 to 23).
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 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.
While more males die by suicide compared to females in Australia, females tend to self-harm or attempt at higher rates than males. Overall, across all 5 jurisdictions in 2021, the rate of ambulance attendance with self-injury and for suicide attempts is higher for females compared to males. Attendance rates for suicidal ideation are higher in females than males in ACT, Qld and Vic. However, in NSW and Tas, attendances for suicidal ideation for males and females are similar (this can be more clearly observed when viewing the visualisation with the error bars shown).