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Last year, more than 3,400 patients went missing from psychiatric hospitals in England.
NHS figures show that 3,462 people who had been divided under the Mental Health Act went unnoticed – absent without permission – in treatment centers between April 2018 and March 2019.
The mental health charity, SANE, said it was increasingly concerned about the number of patients missing from institutions and years of "relentless compressions" for creating appalling conditions in hospitals. services.
Figures represent an increase of 4.4% over the previous year, while 3,316 incidents were recorded.
A patient is defined as AWOL when he leaves the institution, he is detained without authorization or he does not return after being allowed to go on temporary leave.
SANE Executive Director Marjorie Wallace said absences in severed patients may increase the risk of suicide.
She said: "We are increasingly concerned about the number of missing patients across the country for one reason or another, especially those who become seriously ill without drugs and who may become a risk to themselves and to others.
"We need urgent action to prevent patients from staying away, otherwise we risk increasing the number of suicides in this group."
The NHS Foundation Trust Greater Manchester has the worst record in terms of missing patients, with 625 incidents in 2018-19 only.
It was attended by the NHS Foundation Trust Birmingham and Solihull, with 190.
Alison Cobb, a specialized policy advisor for Mind, said it was difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the numbers.
However, she said the mental health law is used in a way that does not treat people with dignity and respect.
"Hospital services can be tough and inhospitable. When people are divided into sections, they are sometimes subjected to unnecessary restrictions and practices such as physical coercion, confinement or forced drug taking, "she said.
"When an inpatient has a mental health problem, they feel very bad and must be placed in a safe therapeutic environment until they have recovered enough to be released."
"Mental health services have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the people entrusted to them and any failure, including fugitives, must be the subject of a thorough investigation."
An NHS spokesman said that an additional £ 2.3 billion was being invested in mental health services as part of the NHS's long-term plan.
The money will be used to ensure that inpatient facilities have sufficient resources, as well as early intervention with patients to prevent escalation of problems, he said.
He added, "The government is rightly reviewing the mental health law to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society."
The figures come as a BBC survey found that referrals to British children's mental health units in UK primary schools for students aged 11 and under had increased by nearly 50% in three years.
Responses to requests for information from 46 health trusts indicate that they increased from 21,125 to 31,531.
Seven trusts reported rejecting a student for treatment at least five times in the last four years.
BBC News has also sent FoI applications to 500 primary schools in England regarding serious episodes of mental health.
According to responses received from 155 schools, 191 elementary school students had self-mutilated in the school grounds during the past four years.
These responses, as well as a story from another school, also revealed that four students had attempted suicide at the elementary school compound during the past four years.
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