ABSTRACT
Social work departments in general hospitals provide a setting where social workers are used to collaborating with doctors and nurses on the wards - who are likely to become increasingly responsible for the routine assessment of parasuicide patients - and to the necessity for short-term work organised rapidly to meet tight deadlines. Even social workers in general practice settings, still comparatively rare, are in a less strategic position than hospital social workers to intervene after parasuicide in a planned and systematic way. The task-centred service was significantly more effective than the routine service and we would argue that the evidence justifies additional investment of social work resources, in hospital settings, in work with patients who have deliberately poisoned themselves and with their families. Research on the task-centred method should investigate further its usefulness as a means of reducing marital problems.
