Airedale Hospital

Chris Moorehouse, 46, criticised the hospital’s response to the incident, which he said happened while he was himself a patient this month.

A spokeswoman for the hospital has responded that staff did react quickly and professionally.

Mr Moorehouse, who is diabetic, said he was admitted to Airedale with dangerously high blood sugar levels.

He said while he was sleeping one night he was woken by someone violently shaking his bed.

He claimed a young man who had been brought into the ward earlier that day was standing close to him holding a pair of scissors. “He told me that if I moved he would stab me,” he said.

“It was extremely scary. He was clearly deranged and was saying he could see these imaginary people moving about all over the place. He was convinced that I was one of them.”

He said he alerted the duty nurses who persuaded the man to drop the scissors but not before he lunged at one of them.

He said the nurses sat the man down and tried to calm him but added security guards took 15 minutes to arrive.

He said when he demanded the police be called he was told the incident had been “nothing personal”.

He said the man was moved to a side room. He said when he called the police himself the officers who responded said they could not prosecute, as the man had not been responsible for his own actions.

He said the next morning he saw the same patient attack a member of staff with a drip stand, then scratch and bite a doctor. He said this time the hospital called the police and the man was taken away. But later in the afternoon he said he was shocked to see him re-admitted to the ward.

Mr Moorehouse, who is now back at home, said this patient should have been in a secure facility.

Bridget Fletcher, director of nursing at Airedale NHS Trust, said: “We are sorry that Mr Moorehouse was distressed by the incident. Both the nursing staff and security dealt with the issue promptly and the other patient was moved to a side room.

“We would like to reassure him that the safety of our patients is always a priority and that this was an unanticipated event, which can, unfortunately, happen when patients are acutely ill.”

A spokeswoman for Airedale and North Bradford police confirmed that officers went to the hospital on the night of the alleged scissors threat and again the following morning.