POLICE officers are having to search for an average of two people going missing from north Wales hospitals every day.

Mark Polin, chief constable for North Wales, said this was the number of missing persons on average that his officers had to deal with due to reports from hospitals.

He was speaking before councillors at Monday’s North Wales Police and Crime Panel where he made a presentation on issues facing the force in north Wales.

One area that he highlighted was where his officers were having to work with other bodies such as hospitals and other emergency services.

Mr Polin will be leaving his role in July before he takes over as the chairman of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in September.

He said: “It may seem strange given my impending role that I want to talk about health but I will.

“Whilst it’s difficult to get in true terms the number of calls we get from hospitals, what we do know is that we are getting on average two concerns for safety or missing persons calls from the hospitals each day.

“And of course we respond to these calls as you might expect us to. There are a number of risks associated with those calls because often they will relate to people who are mentally ill.

“They may have a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness and it puts them at risk. It gives rise to disruption to the area. We are concerned to make sure we safeguard these people and do so quickly.”