(The Center Square) — New data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association shows that emergency room visits resulting from attempted suicide were still higher in 2023 than in 2020 but down from 2021.
While emergency rooms in the commonwealth saw a total of 863 visits of this kind in 2020, numbers continued to climb in 2021 to 985 visits, a 14% increase. Since then, they’ve declined some each year. In 2022, there were 969 visits, and last year ended with 920.
Julian Walker, spokesman for the association, explained that utilization of most service lines in hospitals declined during the pandemic – as many types of non-COVID care were postponed and some wanted to avoid hospital settings altogether – with one “notable exception.”
“During that time, we saw a demand for behavioral health, mental health, substance abuse services rise in hospital settings when demand or utilization of the vast majority of other hospital-based service lines declined,” Walker told The Center Square.
And Americans have continued to seek greater support when it comes to their mental health.