Man's vigil at wrong hospital bed A series of errors led to a man holding vigil at the bedside of a woman he wrongly believed to be his sick mother. Nurses called the man to the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, East Sussex last March, saying his mother was dying. He identified the wrong patient and sat with her as his real mother lay dead in a nearby room. Another family was wrongly told their mother was dead. An internal report said a ward virus, which meant patients had to be moved around, added to the confusion. The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveals the virus had led to an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting. It was also Mother's Day, with an increased number of visitors on the ward. When the man's daughter arrived, she recognised that the woman was not her grandmother and the ward team was alerted Conquest internal report The man himself identified the wrong patient as his mother. Then, because the patient's wrist band was not checked, staff at the Conquest wrote the wrong name of the patient above her bed. The two patients were both elderly, looked similar and were unable to speak because of serious illness. They were receiving similar treatment in adjacent rooms. The blunder only came to light when the man's daughter arrived at the hospital and realised he was with the wrong woman. Hospital apology The report says the man's mistake in identifying the wrong woman as his mother was among several reasons for the mix-up. He sat with her for a "significant period of time". "When he entered the room, the white board above the patient's bed did not have a name on it," the report says. "When the man's daughter arrived, she recognised that the woman was not her grandmother and the ward team was alerted." After the incident, the hospital apologised for the anxiety and strain caused to both families and said measures were being put in place to ensure it could not happen again.