ONE sectioned patient is escaping from a Beckenham psychiatric hospital almost every fortnight.

Figures obtained by the Extra show 28 people detained under the Mental Health Act at the Bethlem Royal Hospital absconded in the year to April.

Runaways from the hospital, in Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, are up on 21 in the previous year.

It is not known how long the patients were missing for, what they were doing or where they were found – because hospital records do not show this.

South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said absconders were returned quickly in the majority of cases and that some times patients had simply returned late.

Founded in 1247, the Bethlem is one of the world’s oldest hospitals for the care of people with mental health problems.

Its units include those for psychiatric patients with a high risk of absconding, patients who self-harm, have an eating disorder or drug addiction.

Some of its 450 beds are for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive and other anxiety-related disorders.