Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance is available to (a) hospitals, (b) healthcare settings and (c) healthcare staff in (i) preventing and (ii) responding to incidents of patients going missing.

The Department does not hold a national figure for the number of people reported missing from hospitals or other healthcare settings in 2024/25 or in 2025/26.

Clear guidance is in place to support hospitals, other healthcare settings, and staff in preventing and responding to incidents where patients go missing. This includes the National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person, published in 2023, which sets out how health services, local authorities, and the police should work together to ensure people with mental health needs receive the right support from the right service. The agreement makes clear that patient safety must be protected and that inappropriate police involvement should be avoided, including in situations involving missing patients or people leaving healthcare settings before treatment is complete.

Further guidance published by NHS England supports local commissioners and providers to put practical arrangements in place. This covers steps to reduce the risk of patients leaving care unexpectedly, action to take when someone does leave, and arrangements to locate and safely return patients from mental health inpatient settings, including where individuals are detained under the Mental Health Act, was admitted under the Mental Capacity Act, or is in hospital voluntarily.