Women realise they were switched at birth by NHS after DNA tests

Two women only realised they had been given to the wrong mothers 55 years after they were switched at birth in an NHS hospital.

The mistake was revealed when Claire, as well as Jessica’s brother ‘Tony’, both took DNA tests, which revealed they were biological siblings.

Confused by the result, they spoke to one another about what might have led to it which revealed the connection with the same hospital.

Newborns in the UK are now given radio frequency identification (RFID) tags immediately, which allow their location to be tracked, meaning babies being accidentally switched is now extremely unlikely.

But before the 1980s, wards relied on handwritten tags, which left much more room for error.

Clare had been surprised by her own results, which showed no biological link to those she had thought were her relatives, and a cousin listed she did not know.

While Tony was worried by his results and fearful of upsetting his mother, now in her eighties, Claire felt more as if the results had explained something about her relationship with her family: ‘There were no similarities, in looks or traits […] I thought, “yes – I’m adopted”.’

She and Tony discussed what best to do, with Tony saying he would take her lead with whether she wanted to ‘progress this at all’.

Claire was eager to meet her biological family, and was very emotional to meet her birth mother and feel as though they had always known each other.

She found it hard to discuss her own childhood, which she described as ‘very difficult’ being raised in ‘absolute poverty, homelessness, often went hungry, and all that entails’.

Breaking to news to the mother who brought her up, who died earlier this year, was the hardest thing she ever faced, though she reassured them nothing would change her feelings towards her.