These departmental guidelines at last revise advice of the 1968 vintage—that all parasuicides should be admitted to hospital and assessed by a psychiatrist. Of course this was never achieved, nor even attempted in many areas. It is a welcome set of new recommendations, therefore, which will help ensure that what actually happens is done well. It is great credit to undergraduate medical teachers that such confidence can now be expressed in newly qualified doctors carrying out these psychosocial assessments. It recognizes that suitably trained nurses and social workers can assess and manage aftercare of these patients quite competently.