NHS England London declares regional incident after cyberattack on blood testing lab

NHS England in London declared a regional incident after the Synnovis blood testing laboratory, which processes samples for hospitals in southeast London, fell victim to a cyberattack.

As a result of the June 3 attack, the number of blood tests performed on patients decreased and their processing was also affected.

Meanwhile, the NHS announced that hundreds of operations and appointments had to be postponed, including cancer treatments and caesarean sections.

The NHS urged people with blood types O positive and O negative to make appointments to donate blood quickly so that normal stocks can be maintained.

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Patients requiring urgent medical attention will be referred to other health facilities or receive mutual aid. Other patients will be asked to keep their appointments unless otherwise advised.

“Data for the first week after the attack (3-9 June) shows that in the two worst affected trusts – King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust – more than 800 planned operations and 700 outpatient appointments had to be postponed. The majority of planned activities continued, with some specialties more affected than others,” the NHS said in its post, adding that it would release “unverified management information” each week to keep people updated.

However, according to the NHS and Synnovis, the effects of the attack are expected to last for several months.

Verified details about the possible perpetrators of the cyber attack are not yet public.

“When a ransomware attack occurs, there is always a risk that cybercriminals may also access data. In addition to working to restore services, investigations continue to be carried out to determine any potential impact on data,” the NHS said.