A CONCERNED member of the public was forced to call 999 after spotting a vulnerable and confused patient wandering the streets near to Furness General Hospital in Barrow.

The mum-of-four from Barrow was on her way to Hawcoat when she spotted a middle-aged man wearing bright orange pyjamas walking near to the staff accommodation units next to FGH last Thursday morning.

She alerted hospital staff but told The Mail that their response was "disinterested".

The woman, who we have agreed not to name, said: "He clearly shouldn't have been there, and I was worried not only for him but also the staff who live there.

"I spotted one nurse, and told her, so she told me to tell the reception desk but they were completely disinterested."

The woman then decided to go back and look for the man, who was clearly confused and disorientated, and found he had walked all the way down to Abbey Road and was attempting to cross.

"I asked him where he was going and he said he was walking to Dalton and was going to the post office," she said.

"I managed to persuade him to sit on a bench and I called 999."

Police and paramedics turned shortly after 11.15am up and the man, who is understood to have been on Ward 5, was taken back to hospital.

The woman added: "All I kept thinking was, what if this had been a relative of mine, someone who had dementia? He didn't have a clue where he was going, he could have hurt himself or someone else."

The incident led one police source to voice his concerns about the ease at which patients, including those from the mental health unit at Dane Garth, are able to go AWOL.

It is understood that the patient who went missing last Thursday was a known drug-user with convictions for violent offences.

A spokeswoman for Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Dova Unit, said: "There has been two cases of patients being Absent Without Leave incidents reported on Dova Unit in the last 12 months.

"Both of these happened whilst the patients have been out on agreed/authorised leave and have not returned or have refused to return. It is in our policy to report to the police if a sectioned patient is off the ward without authorised leave."

Bosses at FGH confirmed they had launched an investigation and apologised to the woman, who later reported her concerns to the PALS liaison service.

Sue Smith, executive chief nurse at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, said: “On behalf of the trust, I’d like to sincerely apologise to the lady for any distress she felt.

"The trust has a procedure for absconding patients and is currently carrying out a full, in depth investigation to understand what happened and whether there was anything we could have done differently.

"Once the investigation is complete, we will meet with the lady feedback the outcome and any lessons learnt."