Stroke patient, 67, walked out of PRH

Staff at a Shropshire hospital failed to notice after a stroke victim packed his bag and fled the building, walking three miles to his home.

It was only after two hours that staff at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital noticed 67-year-old Jack Edwards had disappeared. Mr Edwards suffered a stroke six weeks ago and was admitted to the Princess Royal but decided to walk home to Oakengates - despite his family warning nurses he could walk out at any time.

His daughter-in-law Pauline Edwards said he had packed his bag every day to go home.

She said: "I told staff on the ward several times that he was trying to leave but they virtually ignored me."

Today Andy Rogers, spokesman for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said the safety and security of patients was of paramount importance in any hospital, balanced with the need to provide patients with dignity and freedom to support their recovery and independence.

Mr Rogers added: "We encourage patients on Ward 15 to be mobile as part of their recovery, and Mr Edwards was free to move around the ward and the wider hospital. Patients may be absent from their bedside area for some time"

Mrs Edwards also said visitors of other patients on the ward had found her father-in-law wandering the corridors and had brought him back a few times.

The stroke left Mr Edwards unable to read or write and with speech problems but he is able to say a few short words.

Mrs Edwards claims the hospital rang her at 9pm last Friday to tell her her father-in-law was missing. She says the hospital told her he had left the ward at 7pm but claims another patient on the ward informed her he actually left at 5.30pm.

She said: "It's ridiculous to think that he was missing an hour-and-a-half before they even realised.

"They didn't even inform the security guards until 9.10pm."

Police found Mr Edwards at his home in Oakengates three miles away.

Chris Ammonds, spokes- man for Telford police, said: "We had a call about a missing man just after 9.30pm on Friday.

"We picked up the man outside his home address just before 10pm and returned him to the hospital."

Mr Edwards has now been moved to Bennett House, in Woodside, Telford, for his own safety.

Mrs Edwards added: "The rooms have locks on so he will be safe there."

By Holly Evans