Suicidality

Understanding how to better support nurses experiencing suicidal thoughts

Led by Dr Simon Walker at the University of Glasgow

Nurses face a higher risk of suicide than those in many other jobs, yet we don’t fully understand why, how these risks develop, or what effective prevention should look like. This issue has received far too little focused attention, particularly in Scotland.

With his Foundation fellowship, Dr Simon Walker from the University of Glasgow will develop his Research into Scottish nursing Suicide and Mental health Experience (RESUME) project. This is a public-facing research programme, supported by specialists and lived experience participants, which combines record analysis, survey research, and oral history to better understand suicide among nurses in Scotland between 1980 and 2025.

Simon and his team will analyse official records to identify patterns and periods of heightened suicide risk over time, gathering anonymous accounts from current and former nurses about distress, self-harm, help-seeking, and workplace pressures. They will also collect in-depth testimonies from nurses, bereaved families, and occupational health professionals to understand how these experiences are lived, remembered, and often silenced.

The findings from this work will inform the NHS and policymakers to help create more compassionate, evidence-based national suicide prevention responses for nurses.