Vic psych patient escapee still at large

A psychiatric patient imprisoned for serious offences is still on the run from a Melbourne hospital.

Lee Bartel, 34, failed to return from unescorted leave from the Thomas Embling Hospital in Melbourne's north-east on Friday, police said.

The involuntary psychiatric patient has been imprisoned for serious indictable offences and requires ongoing medication.

Patients are assessed for leave by a forensic leave panel, headed by a Supreme Court judge, a Health Department spokesman said.

"It's rare for patients to abscond from unescorted leave," the spokesman told AAP.

The spokesman said unescorted leave followed a period of leave accompanied by hospital staff, to prepare patients to return to the community.