Cyber attack forces three major hospitals to cancel surgeries

04 June 2024 , 13:42

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Cyber attack forces three major hospitals to cancel surgeries

A cyber attack has forced three major hospitals to cancel operations and divert emergency patients elsewhere.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital have been forced to cancel operations.

Royal Brompton and Harefield have had to axe transplant surgeries.

The cyberattack is affecting pathology labs, which includes bloods transfusions.

In an email seen by The Sunday Times, Professor Ian Abbs, chief executive officer of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said an ‘ongoing critical incident’ was affecting the pathology services.

It reads: ‘I can confirm that out pathology partner Synnovis experienced a major IT incident earlier today, which is ongoing and means that we are not currently connected to the Synnovis IT servers.

‘The incident is also affecting King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and primary care across south east London.

‘This is having a major impact on the delivery of our services, with blood transfusions being particularly affected.

‘Some activity has already been cancelled or redirected to other providers at short notice as we prioritise the clinical work that we are able to safely carry out.’

He added an incident response structure has been stood up, with officials assessing the situation.

A spokesman for King’s College Hospital in London confirmed it was affected by the cyber attack which is reported to have hit several NHS trusts in the capital.

The incident is thought to have occurred on Monday, meaning some departments could not connect to their main server.

In a letter to staff, King’s said the ‘major IT incident’ was having a major impact on the delivery of services, with blood transfusions particularly affected.

Some procedures have been cancelled or redirected to other NHS providers, it said.

Sophia Martinez