"Elderly man walked home through the night"

My dad is in early 80ies and confused. Just before Xmas in  2025, he was taken to A&E by ambulance after taking too much of his medication. The A&E doctor rang at 10.30pm to say that he was going to be admitted to a medical ward for investigation into his confusion. Dad suffers from heart and lung problems and can only walk short distances slowly. Shortly after the doctor called, dad left the department. Nobody contacted us to let us know, so he walked the 7 miles home in freezing temperatures. It took him all night and he was not dressed for the cold. Dad reached home at about 9am and went to bed. He has tile on his keys to track them when he loses them so we were able to locate him. 

We slept thinking he was safe in hospital. It was only in the morning when there was no record of him on any ward that we became concerned. 

I have no idea how he walked all that way as he cannot remember anything outside of his immediate environment and can’t walk far without getting breathless. 

Please don’t let this happen to anyone else’s relatives. A phone call to let us know would have saved him from the risk of being out all night. We are hoping that he is going to be okay and understand more than most how difficult it is to deal with confused people but there should be a duty of care even when they are being difficult.