Nineteen mentally ill patients absconded from a former psychiatric hospital last year – double the year before and more than in any other South West London borough.

The nineteen patients escaped from mental health wards at Sutton Hospital in the eight months up to its closure in August 2009, with one patient alone breaking out five times.

There were nine absconds in 2008 when the ward was fully functioning.

In comparison, there were four absconds from Queen Mary’s Hospital, Wandsworth in 2009 and three from Springfield Hospital, Tooting, which deals with acute patients and now takes Sutton residents.

Conservative health and safety spokesman councillor Stuart Gordon-Bullock said he was not surprised by the figures, because there was poor lighting in the former mental health ward.

A spokeswoman for South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust said Sutton Hospital was not a secure unit and “not designed to maintain high security”.

She said: “The balance between a requirement to provide the best care for patients and any infringement on their civil liberties is an important one, and patients in this facility are assessed as having needs appropriate to the facility and are continually assessed during their admission.”

She said staff training and protocols were also in place to reduce the risk of absconds and all incidents were investigated.

Meanwhile, Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Trust has admitted failing to take action on patient safety alerts issued to tackle problems which cause injury or death.

The Trust made the admission after a study by Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) found it had not complied with 22 patient safety alerts, although the deadline had passed.

The study puts the Trust among the top ten NHS trusts across the country, which have not complied.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of AvMA, said: “It is putting lives at unnecessary risk and adds insult to injury for patients who have been harmed or lost loved ones as a result of NHS lapses in safety.”

An Epsom and St Helier spokesman said the Trust only reports that it is compliant with NPSA alerts once they are sure “we have taken every necessary action”

He said: “In addition, we have recently changed the way in which we implement NPSA alerts.

“As a result, 10 of the alerts outstanding at the end of December have now been completed, with the remaining 12 due to be completed by the end of March.”