NHS cyber attack causes cancellations as London hospitals hit by ‘major IT incident’
A major cyber attack on NHS hospitals in London has caused a number of procedures to be cancelled or changed.
The “major IT incident”, which took place on Monday, has hit King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’, including the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, and primary care services.
According to letters sent to NHS staff, a number of procedures have been cancelled or redirected to other NHS providers, with blood transfusions said to have been especially impacted.
The cyber incident involves pathology services provider and NHS partner Synnovis, a partnership between two London-based hospital Trusts and SYNLAB. The system was hit by a ransomware attack, which has affected all Synnovis IT systems and disrupted connections to the main server for some departments.
One source said accessing some blood test results could take “weeks, not days”, delaying urgent and emergency care.
Mark Dollar, Synnovis chief, said: “It is still early days and we are trying to understand exactly what has happened. A taskforce of IT experts from Synnovis and the NHS is working to fully assess the impact this has had, and to take the appropriate action needed.
“We take cybersecurity very seriously at Synnovis and have invested heavily in ensuring our IT arrangements are as safe as they possibly can be. This is a harsh reminder that this sort of attack can happen to anyone at any time and that, dispiritingly, the individuals behind it have no scruples about who their actions might affect,” he added.
Synnovis is reporting the incident to law enforcement and the Information Commissioner and is also working with the National Cyber Security Centre.
A spokesperson for NHS England London region said the attack is having a “significant impact” on the delivery of services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts and primary care services in south east London.
“We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing to patients and their families.
“Emergency care continues to be available, so patients should access services in the normal way by dialling 999 in an emergency and otherwise using 111, and patients should continue to attend appointments unless they are told otherwise.
“We are working urgently to fully understand the impact of the incident with the support of the government’s National Cyber Security Centre and our Cyber Operations team,” they added.
Synnovis is a partnership between SYNLAB UK & Ireland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
The NHS has faced several recent cyber attacks. Last month, a ransomware group released stolen patient data onto the dark web following an attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway in March.
“When healthcare systems and data are unavailable, lives are potentially at risk. This makes the sector a tempting target for criminals,” explained Martin Lee, Cisco’s security research lead.
“Outages ply pressure on management to pay off the attackers to restore availability quickly. However, paying the ransom means that these attacks remain profitable and ultimately only serves to encourage further attacks,” he added.