NHS Tayside boss Gerry Marr has been dragged into a row over a Perth psychiatric patient reported missing for a sixth time on Tuesday.
A senior Scottish Conservative MSP has demanded answers from Mr Marr over the care package offered to the “extremely vulnerable” man, who is being treated at Murray Royal Hospital.
The 36-year-old patient sparked a manhunt in the early hours of Tuesday morning after disappearing from the psychiatric unit, turning up safe and well several hours later.
He first went missing in December last year, sparking a massive search operation involving dozens of emergency services personnel.
Then in June the man disappeared twice in as many days, prompting calls for a review of security at Murray Royal.
Another double rescue operation was staged in July when the 36-year-old waded into the River Tay on two separate occasions, 24 hours apart.
More than 30 firefighters, several police officers and an ambulance crew were scrambled to deal with each incident, estimated to have cost “thousands” of pounds.
“It’s difficult to assess the cost of the rescue operations but it’s certainly into the thousands,” Perth fire station manager Euan Baird confirmed.
He admitted in July that the patient was “causing a lot of problems for ourselves and the other emergency services”.
However, he sought to reassure the public yesterday that safety in the city is not compromised by rescues involving dozens of firefighters.
Mr Baird said: “It does have a knock-on affect in the Tayside area but we will always maintain cover so there’s no risk to the public in that respect.”
However, he warned NHS Tayside must do more to prevent a repeat of the incidents at the River Tay in July
“When we get repeat occurrences due to one individual it is a concern,” he said. “We need to reduce this or eliminate it entirely.”
The river rescues saw the patient’s care package reviewed but Conservative MSP Liz Smith urged NHS Tayside to look again at the matter following the most recent search operation on Tuesday.
The Courier understands she has fired off an email to chief executive Gerry Marr, who plans to emigrate to Australia when he retires on December 1.
Ms Smith said: “It is obvious that this patient is an extremely vulnerable individual and has specific issues which demand specialist care.
“The fact that the patient has gone missing six times and has encountered life-threatening situations is a matter of grave concern and obviously creates additional difficulties for the emergency services at a time when they are already overstretched.
“This is a matter which is obviously causing concern to both the public and medical professionals alike and is it on the back of this that I have written to the chief executive of NHS Tayside to call on the individual concerned to have their care package reviewed.”
Perth councillor Heather Stewart, who has previously spoken out about the patient’s care, backed the Conservative MSP’s stance.
She said: “It’s extremely worrying that this patient has gone missing yet again. They should have procedures in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: “Due to patient confidentiality, we do not discuss individual cases.”