A heart patient is demanding an explanation after a hospital mix-up left him fearing for his life.

Tony Booker, 59, received a phone call from the hospital urging him to attend as soon as possible as medical staff had bad news awaiting him.

However, after an hour-long wait at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Mr Booker was told a bungle had been made.

Staff had apparently confused his file with that of a patient with a very similar name.

Mr Booker, of Buller Road, Brighton, was told he was in the clear.

He has now written to hospital chief executive Stuart Welling, demanding he explain why it happened.

He said: "The woman who phoned me said it was very serious and that I had to attend straight away.

"She was very insistent and was not prepared to answer any of my questions over the telephone.

"All sorts of things were going through my mind. When I got there, one of the staff said, 'What are you doing here?' and I said, 'You summoned me'.

"Then it became clear. They had mixed up my file with someone else."

He said the other patient's test results had ended up in his file.

"The staff were very embarrassed by the mistake and apologised but had I been a nervous person I don't know what would have happened."

Retired father-of-two Mr Booker has made regular visits to the hospital during the past year as his blood count has been erratic.

He said: "I have the utmost respect for the hands-on people - the doctors and nurses - but contempt and horror for the admin and clerical side."

A hospital spokesman said: "We have carried out a thorough investigation and a full report will be sent to Mr Booker in the next few days.

"It is very regrettable. The confusion between him and the other patient arose entirely as a result of human error and a group of staff failed to follow the correct procedures for checking patient details.

"This was a serious condition and it is rare for us to have to ring someone to ask them to come in. Because of the speed in having to contact the patient the correct procedures were not followed.

"We offer Mr Booker an unreserved apology and assurance that procedures around this have been reviewed to stop it from happening again."

The hospital has managed to contact the other patient.