Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T15:24:38.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patients Leaving Hospital Without the Knowledge or Permission of Staff–Absconding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

J. Falkowski ,
V. Watts ,
W. Falkowski  and
T. Dean
J. Falkowski*
Affiliation:
Springfield (University Designated) Hospital, London SW17 7DJ
V. Watts
Affiliation:
Springfield (University Designated) Hospital, London SW17 7DJ
W. Falkowski
Affiliation:
Springfield (University Designated) Hospital, London SW17 7DJ
T. Dean
Affiliation:
Springfield (University Designated) Hospital, London SW17 7DJ
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A series of 100 consecutive psychiatric in-patients who absconded from a psychiatric hospital a total of 231 times over ten months was studied. The reasons given for absconding, duration of absence, and mode of return are described. The legal status and ethnic origins of absconders differed significantly from those of the base hospital population.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 156 , Issue 4 , April 1990 , pp. 488 - 490
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antebi, R. (1967) Some characteristics of mental hospital absconders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 1087–1090.Google Scholar
Muller, D. S. (1962) The missing patient. British Medical Journal, i, 177–179.Google Scholar
Tomison, A. R. (1989) Characteristics of psychiatric hospital absconders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 368–371.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.