One in five prescriptions written for Stafford Hospital patients are wrong – more than twice the national average.

A recent audit found that as many as 20 per cent of prescriptions written by doctors at the crisis-hit hospital were incorrect, sparking fears over patient safety.

But hospital bosses have moved to reassure patients claiming the mistakes are being picked up by pharmacy staff in the hospital who check each prescription meaning any errors are corrected before medicine is given.

The figures were revealed after an audit of prescriptions issued over a one-week period in January.

Nationally the error rate for hospitals is less than nine per cent, according the General Medical Council.

It is not known how many errors at Stafford Hospital would have been fatal to patients had the drugs been given or how many were just minor mistakes.

Bosses at Stafford are looking to install a new electronic prescribing computer system which should help cut errors further.

Manjit Obhrai, medical director at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said the audit had identified an error rate of between 15 and 20 per cent.

He said: “I would like to stress that the prescription errors did not lead to patients being given the wrong medication as the errors were identified and corrected.”

* The Francis Report into poor care at Stafford Hospital is expected to be made public in coming days after it was handed to Health Secretary Andy Burnham on Friday.