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Background: When suicidal patients are admitted, an estimation of suicide risk must be made to define treatment goals and policies.Developing a risk profile of patients who are in danger of committing suicide short after being in contact with a person working in Mental Health Care, will contribute to the assessment of suicide risk.Aims: To gain more knowledge about the contents of the last consultation a patient had with a person working in Mental Health Care and the characteristics of this patient, just before committing suicide.To make judgements about the need for more/better suicide prevention based on the last risk assessment for patients and clients in the Mental Health Care system.Methods: The files and reports to the Inspectorate of Public Health of all patients who committed suicide in the period of January 1999-December 2009 and were at that time in care of the Parnassian Bavogroep in The Hague, were thoroughly investigated.From the total of 227 patients who committed suicide in this period, patients were selected and divided into two groups: 1.recent care users who had been in contact with a person working in Mental Health Care within 48 hours before committing suicide (N=27), 2.Non-recent care users who had not been in contact with Mental Health Care for more than 21 days (N=18).Clinical and demographical characteristics of these two groups were compared.Results: Significantly more men were recent care users (p=0.036).Within three months before committing suicide, recent care users had been more in contact with Mental Health Care (p=0.004).Recent care users were assessed as having higher suicide risk (p=0.010).The last consultation of recent care users was in most cases because of a crisis and therefore suicide risk was a frequent subject of the treatment consultation.However, in 1/3 of these contacts suicidal risk was not documented.Conclusion: Recent care users and non-recent care users differ on the following characteristics: gender, the contents of the treatment consultations, and the frequency of the total amount of consultations within three months preceding suicide.In case of a crisis situation, assessment of suicide risk necessarily has to be a part of the consultation.Gender might determine urgency of the intensification of treatment consultations.