Surgery cancelled after cyberattack on major London hospitals | UK news

A serious cyberattack on NHS hospitals in London has resulted in numerous treatments having to be cancelled or changed. According to NHS trusts, blood transfusions are particularly affected by the “critical incident”.

Numerous treatments were cancelled or diverted to other NHS providers after major hospitals in the capital were hit by a ransomware attack.

King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’, including the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London The children’s hospital and primary care were hit by the attack on pathology partner Synnovis on Monday.

Synnovis has become “the victim of a ransomware cyber attack,” said CEO Mark Dollar.

“This has affected all of Synnovis’ IT systems and caused disruption to many of our pathology services,” he said.

The hospitals have declared a “critical incident” that has a “significant impact” on the provision of services, particularly affecting blood transfusions.

Mr Dollar said the immediate impact would affect patients using NHS services in hospitals as well as GP services in the boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich, Lewisham, Bromley, Southwark and Lambeth.

“We deeply regret the inconvenience and upset this will cause to patients, service users and everyone else affected,” said Mr Dollar.

“We are doing our best to minimise the impact and will stay in touch with local NHS services to keep people updated on developments.”

Some procedures and operations have been cancelled or transferred to other NHS providers as hospital management continues to assess what work can be carried out safely.

One of the patients, 70-year-old Oliver Dowson, was being prepared for surgery at the Royal Brompton from 6am on Monday when a surgeon told him at around 12.30pm that the operation could not go ahead.

“Staff on the ward didn’t seem to know what had happened, only that many patients had been told to go home and wait for a new appointment,” he said.

“I’ve got an appointment for next Tuesday and I’m keeping my fingers crossed – it’s not the first time they’ve cancelled, it happened on May 28th, but that was probably due to staff shortages during the half-term week,” he said.

A spokesman for NHS England for the London region said the attack had a “significant impact” on services at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts, King’s College Hospital and primary care in south-east London.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to patients and their families.”

Emergency care is continuing and patients should continue to attend appointments unless otherwise advised, the spokesman said.

They said they would continue to update patients on the impact and how they can continue to access healthcare, and are working with the government’s National Cybersecurity Center to understand what happened.

The Cyber ​​incident meant that some departments could not connect to their main server.

A senior source told the Health Service Journal (HSJ) that accessing pathology results could take “weeks, not days”.

“Non-essential blood transfusions were halted when the incident became known,” said Tom Clarke, Sky News science and technology editor.

“Anyone who needs emergency transfusions, as far as I know, has to do it with pen and paper. This will obviously slow down blood comparisons and things like that.”

There is evidence that urgent and emergency care in hospitals will be affected as they may not be able to access blood test results quickly.

Synnovis was created through a partnership between SYNLAB UK & Ireland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The company describes itself as “one of the largest pathology providers in the UK” and aims to improve patient outcomes through “faster testing services and state-of-the-art laboratories,” it says on its website.

Mr Dollar said Synnovis takes cybersecurity “very seriously” and the attack “could affect anyone”.

“This is a harsh reminder that this type of attack can happen to anyone at any time and that the people behind it – dishearteningly – have no qualms about who their actions might affect,” he said.

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“The NHS is in a difficult position given the numerous threats it faces, exacerbated by recent IT budget cuts, and is now the most vulnerable to cyberattacks,” Deryck Mitchelson of cybersecurity company Check Point told Sky News.

“The healthcare sector is one of the most attacked industries in the world, with the average company experiencing more than 2,140 cyberattacks per week.

“The NHS holds a huge amount of valuable personal data that could fetch a high price if sold on the dark web, so it is important that we understand what was extracted to fully grasp the scale of the potential breach,” he said.

There have been a number of attacks on NHS groups recently.

Last month a ransomware group has published stolen patient data on the Darknet following an attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway in March.

Julie White, chief executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway, described the incident as an “absolutely abhorrent criminal act”.

“This result should not surprise us as it is consistent with the modus operandi of these criminal groups,” she said.

The health department urges the public to be alert to any attempts to access their work and personal data.