Cyberattack hits major London hospitals

Major hospitals in London have declared a critical incident after a cyberattack led to the cancellation of operations and the failure of blood transfusions.

Memos sent to National Health Service staff at King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’, as well as primary care services in the British capital, said pathology partner Synnovis had been affected by a “serious IT incident”.

Synnovis is a provider of pathology services and was formed through a partnership between SynLab UK & Ireland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The memos said the “critical incident” had had a “significant impact” on the delivery of services, particularly affecting blood transfusions.

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 told the PA news agency.

“I 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 a lack of staff during the half-time week.”

A spokesman for King’s College Hospital in London confirmed that it was affected by the attack.

According to the Health Service Journal (HSJ), several senior sources have said the system has fallen victim to a ransomware attack.

One said accessing pathology results could take “weeks, not days.”

There is evidence that urgent and emergency care in hospitals will be affected as they may not have access to short-term blood test results.

In 2021, it was announced that SynLab would partner with the NHS to provide pathology services in hospitals and GP surgeries across South East London.