A MOTHER has spoken of her shock and anger after her week-old son was given to another woman to breast-feed at York District Hospital.

Helen Jebson, 26, of Hull Road, York, said the hospital had blamed dim lights and staff shortages for the mix-up, in which her son, Charlie, was handed to the only other mother on the ward.

The mistake came to light when the woman brought Charlie back to the nursery and saw her own son asleep in his cot.

Miss Jebson, who lives with her partner, Ian King, 26, has spoken out following the mix-up in January after seeing reports this week of a similar incident at another hospital.

She said: "I was woken up at 6.30am and told what had happened.

"I was half asleep and the first thing I did was go straight to the nursery and get Charlie. I could not get my head around it at all.

"The head of midwifery apologised, but I wanted to talk about screening the other mother for things like HIV and hepatitis because Charlie had taken a full feed. It was a big concern. The other woman was happy to do anything to help."

Charlie had been wearing an ankle name tag and sleeping in a cot labelled with his name and date of birth.

But according to a letter from the hospital, the unit had been short-staffed due to sickness and the midwife had not checked the baby identification label.

A spokeswoman for the York Health Services NHS Trust confirmed that the mix-up had taken place and that new procedures had since been implemented.

Updated: 11:38 Wednesday, July 03, 2002