A baby was given a morphine overdose in the same hospital where a child with meningitis was the victim of a drug blunder last week.

Four-month-old Morgan Lamberth received the overdose at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton.

A nurse treating Morgan for a viral chest infection in the intensive care unit increased the dosage instead of decreasing it for a child.

The boy's family said they had been told the dose was about 60 times more than it should have been. The mistake was not spotted for 40 minutes.

A spokesman for Brighton Health Care NHS Trust confirmed "a serious drug error" had taken place late last year.

He said: "A member of staff who was reducing the dosage of morphine being delivered to a four-week-old baby mistakenly increased the rate of the drug's delivery.

"The same member of staff spotted the error after 40 minutes and immediately sought advice from senior colleagues and London's Guy's Hospital toxicology service.

"Happily, the child was unharmed and no further action was necessary. The family was informed and the trust has apologised for this error."

Last week, a three-year-old boy being treated at the same hospital for symptoms of meningitis was given at least four times the recommended dose of an antiviral drug.

The error was revealed just days after Brighton Health Care NHS Trust launched an internal investigation into how a patient at the Royal Sussex County Hospital died after being given a pain-killing injection into a vein instead of the spine.

Morgan's mother, Victoria Lamberth, 23, said her son, who was born six weeks premature, had been referred to the Royal Alex by his doctor.

He was transferred to intensive care and put on a ventilator when the overdose took place. The family has since received an apology and an assurance that drug procedures will be improved and staff retrained.

Mrs Lamberth, of Malling Close Lewes, said: "Thankfully, Morgan was on a ventilator, because one of the effects of an overdose of morphine is it can stop you breathing.

"He's fine now, thank God. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him."

Morgan was released from hospital after ten days of treatment.

A spokesman for Brighton Health Care NHS Trust said the staff member responsible for the overdose had been retrained.

Stuart Welling, trust chief executive, said: "I apologise to the family for this error. I am satisfied the necessary action has been taken to reduce the risk of this being repeated."