5 July 2012 Last updated at 10:46 ET

Handcuffing of Alzheimer's man, 84, criticised by daughter

Alan Bailey's family said that handcuffing him was excessive

The daughter of a patient with dementia who was handcuffed by police in an ambulance has described the move as "excessive".

An officer restrained Alan Bailey, 84, as he tried to flee an ambulance taking him to Tameside General Hospital.

"...My father weighs seven stone, he is frail and has Alzheimer's," said his daughter Sandra Coombes.

The chief constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the police callout was "inappropriate".

South Manchester coroner John Pollard is writing to GMP expressing his concern about the incident after an inquest heard that Mr Bailey died in an unconnected fall.

Mr Pollard recorded a verdict of accidental death at the inquest.

Mr Bailey, from Cheadle Hulme, who had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, was restrained when he became agitated and slipped out of the straps that were holding him.

Mrs Coombes said: "I am really upset at the way he was dealt with."

Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said police were increasingly being called out to deal with mental health cases.

'Warning signs'

He added: "We obviously respect the coroner's judgment and will deal with the issues that he raises in his letter to the force.

"We agree with the man's family that it was inappropriate for the police to be called to restrain the patient. This is a medical issue and not a police issue."

He said that police officers could not replicate the extensive level of training which medical staff received to deal with "this sort of situation and to recognise warning signs".

Sir Peter added: "I do not want to have police officers trying to restrain elderly people in medical situations."

He said the force was negotiating a new protocol with the NHS locally on dealing with patients with mental health issues.

Ian Hanson, chair of GMP's branch of the Police Federation, said: "For many years, whenever another agency is short on resources or where something does not fit squarely into their remit, then society has got into the habit of calling the police.

"We are then expected to be experts in everybody else's job, and when we don't get things right then we get criticised."