Because suicide rates have traditionally increased with age (Shah and De, 1998; Shah, 2007), the observed reduction in suicide rates among older people may be an important contributor to the U.K. government's target to reduce suicide rates in the general population by at least one-sixth of the 1996 baseline by 2010 (Department of Health, 1999). Previous studies have observed that suicide rates in older people have declined in both sexes over the 12-year period (1985–1996) and 24-year period (1979–2002) in England and Wales (Hoxey and Shah, 2000; Shah et al., 2001), although the rates are still considerably higher than those among younger adults. It is believed that a better understanding of the methods used by older people for suicide may lead to the development of targeted preventative strategies, which are expected to meet the challenge of sustaining this observed decline in suicide rates among older people over time in England and Wales (Lindesay, 1991; Dennis and Lindesay, 1995).