Clinical guidelines on risk assessment 

The 2022 NICE guideline, Self-harm: assessment, management and preventing recurrence, states that risk assessment tools and scales should not be used to predict future suicide or repetition of self-harm, or to determine who should or should not be offered treatment or who should be discharged.  

The guidelines suggest risk assessment should focus on the person’s needs and how to support their immediate long-term psychological and physical safety. 

• Read the NICE guideline: Self-harm: assessment, management and preventing recurrence 
• Read an editorial on the 2022 NICE guideline: New guidance for self-harm: an opportunity not to be missed (The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2023)