A dementia sufferer who relies on nutritional drinks has been forced to wait more than a week for her prescription from her local Bristol pharmacy.

Pat Welling cannot eat solid food so her GP prescribes the energy drinks to help supplement her diet, but her husband, Bryan, has been unable to pick them up from a St George chemist because they have not received their deliveries.

Mr Welling, 71, said that he has waited 11 days for the Lloyds Pharmacy at Air Balloon Surgery to provide a full prescription.

When he first took the prescription into the chemist on September 24 he was given six drinks to last him several days, but when he returned they still did not have the stock to give him the drinks.

Mr Welling is particularly upset because a sign at the pharmacy states that "One visit does it all" and that has not been his experience.

He said: "At 2pm on Thursday I went to the pharmacy for the rest of the drinks and was told again they hadn't arrived yet.

"I protested and explained this was my wife's lifeline and they said come back after 5pm and there would be the drinks to last her the weekend.

"Monday came and once again I went to the pharmacy and was told they hadn't arrived yet and to come in tomorrow.

"That was the voice of a pharmacy without any thought for my wife's welfare, they even refused to ring any other pharmacy to see if they could supply any drinks for her. They just did not seem to realise how serious it was.

"It's been 11 days and five visits and still no energy drinks. When you walk into this pharmacy above the counter it says one visit does it all, they are having a laugh."

Mrs Welling, 69, first showed signs of forgetfulness in 2000 but it was not until 2002 that she was diagnosed with dementia. Now her husband of 45 years has to feed, dress and wash her.

Mr Welling is on a Bristol board advising the NHS on dementia and shares his experiences to help inform the type of care that is available to patients. He said: "I will bring this up at the Bristol dementia strategy meetings.

"We have had such good care at the doctors and the receptionists there have been brilliant, but it seems like they are lacking the compassion they need at the pharmacist."

Chloe Hudson, spokeswoman for Lloyds, said: "Lloyds pharmacy is sorry for the difficulties Mr Welling has experienced in obtaining nutritional drinks for his wife.

"The pharmacist did everything they could to obtain the preferred flavour of drinks by Mrs Welling, but regrettably they were out of stock for a longer period of time than expected.

"We apologise for any distress this may have caused to Mr and Mrs Welling and an alternative nutritional drink has been offered."