Cyber Attacks on the NHS
14/05/2017, 10:22
48 Trusts were hit by the cyber attack on Friday. Patient services were affected with many departments unable to access patient records, including GP surgeries, Blood results, discharge and telephone systems. As of today SUNDAY 14th May - systems are slowly coming back online - but the knock on effect of this attack will affect services for weeks. Operations and routine scans were cancelled over the weekend and many Emergency Departments were diverting their patients to other Trusts. In East Lancashire ELHT have pulled out all the stops to ensure that patient safety is the number 1 priority - with many staff working additional shifts to assist. In Out of Hours, the Care provider East Lancashire Medical Services have worked hard to support and underpin Primary Care Colleagues. These Organisations, their staff and Trusts should be commended - as should all staff across Pennine Lancashire. You are all quite remarkable. There will be a time for questions, but for now, please assist your hospital by only attending the Emergency Department if you have an accident or emergency. If you need medical help, please call 111 and you will be given advice on the right place for you to attend. Rest assured that when you need medical help - that help will be there. Thousand of NHS staff have worked day and night since Friday - to ensure that systems are safe and operational. If you missed an appointment on Friday or over the weekend, please bear with your health service provider and call them on Monday, to reschedule any appointments. This has been an unprecedented attack on the NHS infrastructure and it will take some time for normal service levels to be achieved. Lord Russ McLean, Chair Patient Voices Group0 comments
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