The average number of people admitted to hospital in central Vancouver Island after trying to injure themselves is higher than both the provincial and national average, according to a new report by the Canadian Institute of Heath Information.
But rates in the south are the lowest on the Island, possibly because of community resources such as Victoria's Assertive Community Treatment outreach teams, says sa国际传媒's provincial health officer Perry Kendall.
Across sa国际传媒, the rate of hospital admissions for self-injury - a predictor for suicide - varies greatly from the low of 36 per 100,000 people in affluent Richmond to a high of 174 per 100,000 in the more rural northwest of sa国际传媒
The rates of admission for self injury vary from a high of 106 per 100,000 people in the central Island, to 95 in the north Island and a low of 68 in the south. The Canadian average is 65 and the provincial average is 77.
Vancouver Island Health Authority could not say with certainty why the central and north Island has poorer rates, but said social determinants of health, such as wealth, education and housing likely play a role.
In 2009-2010 the rate of hospital admission for self-injury in sa国际传媒's least affluent neighourhoods was twice that of the most affluent, the report said.
Kendall said the broad-brush explanation includes socioeconomics, as well rural areas having less access to treatment beds - why VIHA has been trying to make the distribution of such beds more equitable across the Island.
"We expect that our investment in mental-health services in central and north Island will result in improved indicator rates," said Shannon Marshall, VIHA spokeswoman.
The $1.3 billion that sa国际传媒 invests annually on mental health and addictions, a 48 per cent increase since 2001, is in line with other provinces, Kendall said.
"Obviously one could always invest more but there's been some substantial investment here," Kendall said. "I think the point the report makes is the most important area to invest is in community resources."
The investment in VIHA's ACT outreach teams, as well as more community resources for anxiety and depression, and the province's 10-year mental-health plan introduced in 2010, which includes giving family doctors resources to tackle mental health issues as a first line of prevention, will need more years of study before the province can assess their success, Kendall said.
On south Vancouver Island, the hospitalization rate for selfinjury is below the provincial average. VIHA also attributes Victoria's lower statistics, in part, to its intensive services provided by four ACT outreach teams in Victoria, established in 2008 at an annual cost of $3.3 million, and one in Nanaimo, at a cost of $1 million each year, implemented last year.
