A man was told by a hospital nurse that his wife had died, only to turn up and find her asleep on the ward an hour later.

Frank Priddis, 63, was left grieving for his wife Sandra unnecessarily after nurses mixed up her details with another patient.

Mrs Priddis was at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital receiving treatment for bladder cancer when her family received the call from a nurse.

Mr Priddis, a bus driver from Exeter, Devon, said he had to wait an hour to find out that his wife was still alive.

He said: "The nurse told me that my wife had passed away approximately an hour previously.