An RAF veteran died of heart failure after staff at a "very busy" Boots pharmacy gave him another patient's prescription, an inquest heard.

Douglas Lamond, 86, who was registered blind, received his weekly medicines in pill boxes assembled at his local branch in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Tablets were placed in separate compartments to take on different days.

Mr Lamond, who was originally from Dundee, received many different medications for complaints including heart problems and Type 2 diabetes.

Coroner Dr Peter Dean said the pensioner died from the combined effects of his serious pre-existing medical conditions and the consequences of "a very significant accidental dispensing error which resulted in him receiving another patient's medication".

This deprived Mr Lamond of his own medication for several days, while the other patient's medication was likely to have had harmful side-effects.

Clinical pharmacologist Robin Ferner said this placed "frail" Mr Lamond at greater risk of suffering a heart attack and had likely hastened his death.

Dispenser Susan Hazelwood said she had made the dispensing error on a day when the pharmacy was "very busy", and responsible pharmacist Mihaela Seceleanu did not notice this when completing checks.

Mr Lamond, of Stuart Close, Felixstowe, died on May 12 2012, two days after the pills were delivered to him.

The widower had served in the RAF as a bomb aimer and navigator and lived alone at the time of his death.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was insufficient evidence to charge anybody with gross negligence manslaughter. Ms Seceleanu was cautioned under the Medicines Act 1968.

Dr Jose Moss, deputy superintendent pharmacist for Boots UK, said an investigation found that shortfalls had resulted from human error, and that standard operating procedures were in place but had not been followed.

She told the family of Mr Lamond: "I would like to express on a personal level and on behalf of Boots UK my sincere apologies."

Boots has since changed its procedures to help prevent similar incidents occurring in the future.