Suicide rate hits 10-year high and dementia poised to become leading cause of death

The number of Australians taking their own lives has hit a 10-year high, while dementia is tipped to overtake heart disease as the nation’s leading cause of death within five years.

The number of suicide deaths climbed above 3000 in 2015 for the first time, rising more than 5% in 12 months, official figures show.

Suicide was the leading cause of death for 15-44 year olds, with males three times more likely than females to take their own lives.

Suicide rates were highest in the Northern Territory, while Queensland recorded the greatest increase in deaths.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that while suicide accounted for less than 2% of overall deaths in Australia in 2015, it claimed the lives of a third of those aged 15-24 and more than a quarter of 25-34 year olds.

Mental health groups were dismayed by the rising rates and called for a new national approach to suicide prevention.

The chairman of beyondblue, Jeff Kennett, said the Senate should set up a special commission to combat suicide, while Lifeline wants a national summit.

“These figures have to stop us in our tracks,” Kennett said. “The 2015 total is two-and-a-half times the national road toll and six times the number of Australian lives lost in the entire Vietnam War.”

The chief executive of Sane Australia, Jack Heath, said while much had been done to reduce the stigma around mild and moderate mental health issues, more help was needed among the 700,000 Australians with more complex conditions.

“There needs to be access to better-quality services and that particularly becomes an issue for people in rural and regional areas where there are a quarter of the psychiatrists and half the psychologists,” he said.

“And we need to do a better job to help people who are discharged from emergency departments after suicide attempts by making sure there’s better follow-up services.”

While deaths from suicide are rising, heart disease remains the main cause of death for most Australians with more than 19,700 fatalities last year.

However the ABS predicts dementia will topple heart disease from its top spot by 2021, with the number of deaths having doubled in the past decade to 12,625 largely as a result of our ageing population.

Dementia is now the second-biggest killer of Australians, while heart disease and stroke-related deaths have been steadily declining.

Alzheimer’s Australia’s CEO, Maree McCabe, said while one in 13 people in their 30s, 40s and 50s have the brain disorder there was not enough awareness about dementia among young and middle-aged people, who often mistakenly think dementia is a normal part of ageing.

“If we can delay the onset of dementia by five years we would reduce the number of people who get dementia by 30%,” she said.

McCabe called for a government-funded national dementia strategy, similar to those in the US and Britain.

She also advises people reduce their risk of developing dementia by exercising, eating healthily, socialising and keeping their brains active.

Leading causes of death in Australian in 2015

* Ischaemic heart diseases (19,777, down from 21,721 in 2010)

* Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (12,625, up from 9003)

* Cerebrovascular diseases (10,869, down from 11,200)

* Trachea, bronchus and lung cancer (8466, up from 8102)

* Chronic lower respiratory diseases (7991, up from 6129)

* Diabetes (4662, up from 3948)

Source: ABS (excludes suicide)

• Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78

Suicide rate hits 10-year high and dementia poised to become leading cause of death

Lib Dems poised to back dedicated tax to help rescue NHS

The Liberal Democrats are poised to become the first major political party to back a dedicated new tax to help rescue the NHS from its deep financial problems.

The party is about to start examining the wisdom and practicalities of introducing a ringfenced tax which would involve a one pence increase in either income tax or National Insurance.

The party has recruited a panel of senior doctors and NHS experts to advise it on how what it calls “a dedicated NHS and care tax” would help ease the health service’s decade-long financial squeeze.

Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem health spokesman, will on Saturday tell party activists gathered at its annual conference in Brighton that there is a very strong case for embracing the move, despite the political risk inherent in a tax rise.

“The uncomfortable truth is that we are falling further behind other European countries in how much we spend on health and care. So let’s look at the case for a dedicated health and care tax, shown on your pay packet,” Lamb will say.

“We must be honest with the British people. If we believe that more money is needed, if we conclude that we all need to pay perhaps an extra penny in the pound, then we must be prepared to say it. We must give this [idea] proper consideration,” he will add.

The Treasury has estimated that a 1p rise in income tax would raise £3.9bn this year, rising to £4.5bn next year and then £4.6bn in 2018-19. Without major reforms to how care is provided, the NHS in England is facing a £22bn gap in its finances by 2020-21.

The party’s “new Beveridge group” of advisers will include Dr Clare Gerada, the outspoken ex-chair of the Royal College of GPs, who recently defected to the Lib Dems from Labour; Prof Dinesh Bhugra, an ex-president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists; and Prof Nick Bosanquet, an expert in health economics at Imperial College London who has also worked with Reform, the right-of-centre thinktank that works on public sector reform.

Prof Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund thinktank, welcomed the Lib Dems’ consideration of the move as a sign of realism at Westminster that the NHS in England cannot survive intact without receiving more money than the £10bn extra it is due by 2020-21.

“It is not possible for the NHS to continue to meet rising demand for services and maintain current standards of care without additional funding,” said Ham. “Increasing funding for health and social care is affordable if hard choices are made about how to find the additional resources needed.

“As the party conference season begins, it is essential that all the parties face up to the need for an honest debate about how to provide adequate funding to meet future needs for health and social care,” he added.

Lamb will tell delegates that health and social care need special treatment in government spending because, unlike other public services, the costs involved are rising relentlessly by about 4% a year, due to the ageing and growing population and rise of lifestyle-related conditions such as obesity and lung diseases.

Government sources indicated that ministers were unlikely to embrace an NHS-specific tax rise any time soon.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “On the back of a strong economy, we are giving the NHS the £10bn it asked for to fund its own plan for the future, including almost £4bn this year to transform services and improve standards of care.

“We know the NHS is under pressure because of our ageing population, but we rightly expect hospitals to have a grip on their finances and continue to ensure patients get treated quickly.”

Lib Dems poised to back dedicated tax to help rescue NHS