Benjamin Biffin, 37, led police on a wild pursuit from Dubbo down to Mudgee after absconding from the hospital and stealing a vehicle from the nearby Charles Sturt University campus.

More than a dozen police units, including two Polair helicopters, were involved in the pursuit and subsequent foot search, with reports that at one stage Biffin drove the stolen Ford Ranger directly at vehicles after being cornered in a paddock.

Two warrants were out for him when he was initially arrested on Wednesday evening after a separate chase with police, and taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Paul Robert Johnson was in the vehicle at the time, with the pair both kept under guard after being transported to the medical facility.

But just how he managed to leave the hospital will be the subject of a review.

“We are looking at the circumstances of how he made good his escape from the hospital yesterday morning,” Orana Mid-Western investigations manager Detective Sergeant Mark Meredith said.

“In relation to that we’ll be looking at all our protocol - our own in the police, discussing and communicating facts with hospital and correctives stafd.

“Ben Biffin is a high-risk offender, and he’s not to be approached by members of the public.”