There's no alternative to castor oil being prepared for patient (7)
I believe the answer is:
stoical
'patient' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'there's no alternative to castor oil being prepared' is the wordplay.
'there's no' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'alternative' becomes 'or'.
'being prepared' indicates anagramming the letters.
'castor'+'oil'='castoroil'
'castoroil' with 'or' taken away is 'castoil'.
'castoil' with letters rearranged gives 'STOICAL'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for stoical that I've seen before include "Seeming to be unaffected by pleasure or pain" , "patient, > uncomplaining" , "Uncomplaining in the face of adversity" , "Showing endurance" , "Suffering patiently" .)