Mark Gould reports:
Violent mentally ill patients, including murderers, rapists and paedophiles, are being fitted with satellite tracking devices to stop them escaping and re-offending.
More than 60 medium and high-risk patients detained at the Bethlem Royal Hospital have been fitted with a locked ankle bracelet containing a global positioning system as a condition of day leave, or while they are transferred to and from hospitals.
[…]
The hospital, part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, says that since the device was approved for routine use in March it has halved the number of patients absconding.
It said that such measures were necessary to protect the public, after a series of high-profile incidents where patients absconded, fled abroad or committed violent crimes.
Read more in OnMedica.