The incident at Broken Hill hospital on Saturday is being treated as “serious” by the Greater Western, which has apologised to patients, while offering them and staff counselling.

The Greater Western reports that “ human error” was to blame and has promised to do all in its power to prevent a repeat.

The mix-up was explained yesterday by a Greater Western spokesperson, who revealed that a registered nurse had made a mistake.

“A newborn baby was mistakenly taken to the wrong mother to be breastfed in Broken Hill Health Service last Saturday,” he said.

“A registered nurse inadvertently took the baby to the wrong room.

“The woman discovered she had the wrong baby moments after she began breastfeeding and a midwife was called.”

The Greater Western spokesperson said the baby in the incident was “correctly identified” with two ankle tags.

“The health service has apologised to the patients and provided counselling to both patients and the staff involved,” the spokesperson said.

“The incident is a serious one and the health service will make every effort to ensure this mistake does not happen again.

“Hospital procedures are being reviewed and all midwives and nurses working in the maternity ward will be reminded of the policy in the care of and identification of mothers and babies.”