For the second time in a matter of months The Grange Hospital has admitted releasing the wrong body to a  grieving family.

The hospital admitted the mistake in a statement issued this weekend in which it apologised to the family involved and said it had launched an investigation into the incident.

In the wake of the admission Peredur Owen Griffiths - Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales East said he would be raising the matter with the Welsh Government.

 “When news of the first mix up with a body emerged last December, I hoped it would be an isolated incident,” he said.

“We have now found out that it has happened again around the same time as the first incident that came to light. This is a deeply worrying occurrence which will do little to reassure public confidence in the competence of the hospital’s morgue.

“I appreciate that procedures have tightened up since the blunders first came to light but there needs to be reassessment of the processes at the mortuary because clearly there were serious and significant errors in the way things were run. This cannot happen again.

“I will be looking to raise this matter with the Labour Government.”

A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said: “We are devastated for the family involved in this incident and we are deeply sorry that this has happened in our mortuary.

“It is with deep regret that this incident occurred within days of a similar incident already reported and was due to the same human error.

“Our initial investigation has just been completed and we are now further investigating the circumstances surrounding this second incident that occurred around the same time in similar circumstances. We have taken appropriate action since November within the mortuary setting and have put in place even more safeguards due to this second case.  We have also conducted a retrospective audit to ensure that there are no further cases that mirror this incident and we have also asked the Human Tissue Authority to undertake a follow-up audit on our systems and processes for further reassurance.

“We have met with the family to fully inform them about this situation and to offer them as much support as they need. We have been informed that there is no known family of the other patient and this is the reason there has been a delay in this case being identified. We will keep family members fully updated throughout our continuing investigation.

“We are deeply sorry, and our thoughts and full support remain with the family.”

Late last year hospital chiefs were forced to apologise to a bereaved family after they attended a cremation for the wrong body.

It was reported the family had to attended a second cremation after the error was discovered.

Nicola Prygodzicz, of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said “we identified this mistake through our own processes".

She added: "Words cannot express how sorry we are. We are utterly heartbroken about what has happened to the family and we take responsibility for this isolated incident."

Reassuring people that it was an "exceptional case" she said an initial review had been carried out and they were "confident that this is down to human error in an isolated case".

"We are continuing to investigate this incident and we will keep family members fully updated throughout our investigation," she added.

"No words we can say, or actions we can take, can put this right.

"We are deeply sorry and our thoughts and full support remain with the family."

It was believed the other patient had no family.