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.

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