Caution: Some people may find parts of this content confronting or distressing.
If affected in any way, please contact Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636, Lifeline 13 11 14 or seek help from these other helplines.
NSW Health acknowledges that behind the data are people who are deeply affected by suicide.
The NSW Suicide Data Monitoring System (the System), established in October 2020, is a collaboration between the NSW Ministry of Health, Department of Communities and Justice, the State Coroner and NSW Police to enable the collection and reporting of information on recent suspected and confirmed suicides in NSW.
All suicides or suspected suicides are reported to the Coroner. Data on these Police notifications are obtained from the information system managed by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice. The data about suspected suicides are an estimate. A final determination of the manner of death can only be made by the Coroner after detailed enquiry. In this way, the System allows provision of information to support communities, local organisations and government agencies to respond to suicide more timely and effectively.
NSW Suicide monitoring reports are published approximately eight weeks from the last day of the reporting month. This time allows for processing, validation and updating of data and preparation of reports and approvals.
Suicide deaths may vary from month to month, particularly when examining sub groups or smaller regions. Caution is advised against over-interpretation of suicide trends using monthly data alone. NSW Health advises all local planning be based on robust, long term data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics or the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
NSW Health supports the use of the Mindframe guidelines on responsible, accurate and safe suicide reporting. Please consider these guidelines when reporting on data from the NSW Suicide Monitoring System.
