Uncertainty about police response to absconding patient
Metropolitan Police Service received 2 coroners' reports about this hazard between 20 Nov 2019 and 12 Jun 2023.
They came from 2 different coroners in 2 coroner areas. A similar concern was raised again 1 time after the first warning.
No published response from Metropolitan Police Service was found for the earlier reports.
The story, report by report
Spacing grows with the time between reports.
“C&l ward staff did not have a proper understanding of what action the MPS would take in what circumstances, following the report of a patient absent without leave.”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ No published response from Metropolitan Police Service was found for this report.
- 3 years 7 months laterClosely relatedConfidence 0.90 · higha different coroner
“the police would not necessarily attend, even if called direct by a hospital staff member in the street following a patient about whom they are worried.”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ Repeated from the earlier report:stafffollowingpatient
Metropolitan Police Service responded, stating 1 specific action.Response (PDF) ↗
“Response The MPS currently has the Affinity Protocol in place and has done since September 2021.This is a collaborative partnership between local policing, NHS Trusts and mental health service providers, the aim of which is to achieve mutual understanding of each partner's responsibilities in respect of those patients detained under the Mental Health Act and who may abscond.”
Stated timescale: September 2021
- All reports to Metropolitan Police Service
Each row is one judged link between an earlier and a later report. Open a row to read both quotes, found word for word in the originals.
2019 → 2023Heather Findlay3 years 7 months after Nimo Younis · different coronerClosely relatedConfidence 0.90 · high
Closely relatedConfidence 0.90 · highBoth reports highlight uncertainty about how the Metropolitan Police Service will respond when hospital staff report a patient who has absconded or is causing concern.
Nimo Younis · 20 Nov 2019
“C&l ward staff did not have a proper understanding of what action the MPS would take in what circumstances, following the report of a patient absent without leave.”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ Heather Findlay · 12 Jun 2023
“the police would not necessarily attend, even if called direct by a hospital staff member in the street following a patient about whom they are worried.”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗
No published response from Metropolitan Police Service was found for this report.
Stated action · timescale: September 2021
“Response The MPS currently has the Affinity Protocol in place and has done since September 2021.This is a collaborative partnership between local policing, NHS Trusts and mental health service providers, the aim of which is to achieve mutual understanding of each partner's responsibilities in respect of those patients detained under the Mental Health Act and who may abscond.”
- Each report's concerns were extracted by Nemotron 3 Nano on Nebius Token Factory, each with a quote copied from the report.
- Concerns from reports to Metropolitan Police Service at least six months apart were compared by meaning (Qwen3 embeddings) and wording (TF-IDF).
- The closest pairs were judged by Nemotron 3 Super with reasoning on. Only identical or closely related, with confidence of at least 0.70, are shown.
- Every quote was checked by code as an exact substring of the original text. Names of staff and family are redacted, and the deceased are named by report title only.
| Link | Meaning | Wording | Judge | Coroner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 → 2023 | 0.77 | 0.12 | Closely related · 0.90 | different |
Judge model: nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b. How Nemotron did the work · Full methodology.
Next
Other chains for Metropolitan Police Service
- Inconsistent mental health emergency protocols across police forces2 reports · 2023–2026
- Gap in classification and remit leading to insufficient investigation2 reports · 2014–2026
- Lack of understanding of required actions to prompt police progression2 reports · 2019–2025
- Lack of professional curiosity in risk assessment2 reports · 2022–2024
This shows that a similar concern was raised again after an earlier report. It does not say why, and it is not a finding about any organisation or person. To report an error, see the corrections route.