How mental patients leave hospital in England and Wales: A viewpoint

Abstract

Contrary to what people generally assume, patients leave mental hospitals, not just via self-discharge (in the case of informal patients) or discharge by the hospital (responsible clinician, hospital managers, etc.). Rather, there are other modes of leaving hospital, such as being given leave of absence, absconding or going absent without leave and transfer to another hospital. This paper briefly looks at all these modes, according to whether they are temporary or permanent, unofficial or official.