Troubled young man not reported missing for hours as hospital's 101 calls went unanswered before tragic death

18.02.2022 - 13:57 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A hospital's 101 calls to police to report a depressed man had gone missing went unanswered for hours, an inquest has heard.

Tragically, Piotr Andrzejczak, 25, was found dead in dense woodland nine days after walking out of the emergency department at Royal Oldham Hospital on July 14, last year.

On that day, hospital staff tried to report him missing from 3.45pm using Greater Manchester Police's 101 line, assistant coroner for Manchester North Matthew Cox was told.

READ MORE:Body found in search for missing man, 25, last seen at Oldham Hospital

The initial call was held for 45 minutes, but this was disconnected when staff saw police officers in the emergency department attending another matter.

When told of the difficulties, the police officers said they would report Piotr missing.

But eventually, they told the staff they could not make contact either and advised the nurses to keep trying 101.

It took until 9.58pm for the staff to get through on the 101 number.

By this time, Piotr's desperate family had visited Oldham Police Station and themselves reported him missing at 8pm, still more than four hours after he disappeared from the hospital.

Piotr had initially gone to the hospital after telling his mother, Anita, to get out of the house they shared in Blackstone Road, Rochdale, because 'the doctor was coming to kill her'.

The following day, he told his sister Alex he was hearing voices and that someone was going to kill him.

Alex said she persuaded Piotr, a packer at a car parts factory, to go with her boyfriend Nathan to the emergency department at the Royal Oldham. They arrived at 2.42pm.

"Because of Covid restrictions, Nathan was told he couldn't stay and was asked to leave," she said.

"Staff said they would get