A HUSBAND is distraught after nurses could not give his bed-bound wife incontinence pads because she had used up all the ones she had been allocated.

Rodney Morris, aged 59, has cared for his wife Margaret, aged 54, round the clock ever since she returned to their home in Walwyn Road, Colwall, in January this year.

She suffered a stroke and spent 19 months in hospital and has been left bed-bound, unable to speak and relies on her husband and part-time carer to look after her.

Mr Morris said he is at a loss after he asked district nurses for more incontinence pads and they said she was not allowed any more.

He said: "They said we have been given the ones to which she is entitled. I was told she is meant to use three a day, but even a baby uses 10 a day.

"Am I supposed to leave her wet because they won't give her more pads?" Mr Morris, said the NHS had delivered three packs of 42 pads, which were meant to last eight weeks, but they were too small and Mrs Morris was using eight a day.

The nurses have now given them more pads but Mr Morris is upset he had to ask for them when they knew his wife was quickly running out.

He said: "I shouldn't have had to speak out like this.

"It's just a few pads, it's not like I'm asking for a £10,000 piece of medical equipment."

Mr Morris, who suffers from arthritis, had to ask his daughter to buy more pads.

He said: "I'm up at 5am to change her.

"Then the carer comes and we change her again, then we wash her.

"I wouldn't leave her for more than 10 seconds."

Trish Jay, lead executive nurse at Herefordshire Primary Care Trust, said: "The PCT does not comment on individual patients.

"We work with individuals to ensure they have the most appropriate product to meet their needs.

"Different individuals need different products."