NHS Cyberattack Significantly Impacts London Hospitals
Patients have been advised to keep attending appointments unless instructed otherwise.
Due to a cyberattack on major hospitals in London on Monday, medical procedures have been either cancelled or redirected to other NHS providers.
Affected hospitals in the capital include King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital, which includes the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
A spokesperson for NHS England London region mentioned that a ransomware cyberattack occurred on June 3, affecting NHS systems using Synnovis, a provider of pathology services.
“This is significantly impacting the delivery of services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts, and primary care services in southeast London. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to patients and their families,” the spokesperson stated.
Emergency care, including access to services like the 999 emergency line and the 111 NHS service, continues to operate normally, according to NHS England.
“Patients should continue attending appointments unless advised otherwise. We will provide updates for local patients and the public on the service’s impact and how they can access the care they need,” the spokesperson added.
Related Stories
Services like blood transfusions and test results have been affected by the cyberattack, resulting in some procedures being cancelled and others redirected to alternative NHS providers in the meantime.
One patient at the Royal Brompton, Oliver Dowson, had his surgery cancelled on Monday and has been given a new date for next Tuesday after being told by a surgeon that the procedure would not proceed as planned.
Synnovis
Synnovis provider Synlab partnered with Guy’s and St Thomas’s and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation trusts in April 2021.
Mark Dollar, the chief executive of Synlab UK and Ireland, stated that the company had a successful history of working with the NHS.
“We are committed to making a positive impact on patients and clinicians by providing reliable, effective, and timely diagnostic information,” Mr. Dollar mentioned in a statement during the partnership launch.
Synnovis also serves South London and Maudsley and Oxleas NHS Foundation trusts, as well as some GP and community services in the boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich, and Lewisham.
NHS Cyberattacks
This is not the first time NHS hospitals have been targeted by criminal cyber activities.
On March 15, NHS Dumfries and Galloway reported a “focused and ongoing cyberattack” which led to the exposure of data related to a small number of patients.
In May, cyber criminals released a significant amount of data on the dark web, including sensitive information about staff. An investigation into the hacking incident is ongoing.
In August 2022, Advanced, a provider of vital systems for the NHS, experienced a cyber breach, leading to the offline status of several systems like the NHS 111 service and software used for patient check-ins and medical notes maintenance.
Furthermore, in 2017, the NHS was affected by a WannaCry ransomware attack that impacted 80 out of 236 hospital trusts in England and infected 8% of GP practices with the virus.
NHS England emphasizes the importance of staff remaining vigilant and taking precautions to mitigate the threat of cyberattacks.
Common cyber threats targeting the NHS include phishing, smishing, and spoofing, which aim to deceive individuals into compromising actions or revealing confidential information.
PA Media contributed to this report.
