Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2018 to Question 177600 on Patients, how many patient safety incidents were recorded as absconder or missing patient by hospitals in England and Wales in the National Reporting and Learning System involved mental health patients in the latest period for which information is available.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
During the period 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018, the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) recorded 12,405 cases of ‘missing or absconded patient’ from a National Health Service trust hospital in England and Wales, including incidents involving a mental health patient. This category on the NRLS also includes patients who left without signing a ‘discharge against medical advice’ form and those who failed to return from agreed leave, on time.
The attached tables show a breakdown of these cases by NHS trust for both England and Wales respectively. If a NHS trust does not appear in these tables, this is because the number of incidents is ‘0’.
During the same period, the NRLS recorded 6,186 cases of ‘missing or absconded patient’ involving a mental health patient in England and Wales. This breaks down as 5,946 in England and 240 in Wales. This category on the NRLS also includes patients who left without signing a ‘discharge against medical advice’ form and those who failed to return from agreed leave on time.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October to Question 177600 on Patients, how many patient safety incidents were recorded as absconder or missing patient by hospitals in England and Wales in the National Reporting and Learning System in each NHS trust in the latest period for which information is available.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
During the period 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018, the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) recorded 12,405 cases of ‘missing or absconded patient’ from a National Health Service trust hospital in England and Wales, including incidents involving a mental health patient. This category on the NRLS also includes patients who left without signing a ‘discharge against medical advice’ form and those who failed to return from agreed leave, on time.
The attached tables show a breakdown of these cases by NHS trust for both England and Wales respectively. If a NHS trust does not appear in these tables, this is because the number of incidents is ‘0’.
During the same period, the NRLS recorded 6,186 cases of ‘missing or absconded patient’ involving a mental health patient in England and Wales. This breaks down as 5,946 in England and 240 in Wales. This category on the NRLS also includes patients who left without signing a ‘discharge against medical advice’ form and those who failed to return from agreed leave on time.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patient safety incidents were recorded as absconder or missing patient by hospitals in England and Wales in the National Reporting and Learning System in each care setting in the latest period for which information is available.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
During the period 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018 National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) recorded 12,398 cases of “missing or absconded patient” across England and Wales. This category on the NRLS includes patients who left without signing a ‘discharge against medical advice’ form and those who failed to return from agreed leave on time, rather than solely reports of patients who absconded or were reported missing.
A breakdown by care settings for both England and Wales is provided in the following table.
Incidents reported as “Missing or absconded patient”, by care setting for England and Wales
Care Setting | England | Wales | Total |
Acute / general hospital | 5,781 | 146 | 5,927 |
Ambulance service | 15 | 0 | 15 |
Community and general dental service | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Community Nursing, medical and therapy service (incl. community hospital) | 312 | 57 | 369 |
Community optometry / optician services | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Community pharmacy | 0 | 0 | 0 |
General practice | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Learning disabilities service | 87 | 2 | 89 |
Mental health service | 5,754 | 239 | 5,993 |
Total | 11,954 | 444 | 12,398 |