Report from Sky News

A number of procedures have been cancelled or redirected to other NHS providers after a ransomware attack struck major hospitals in the capital (4 June, 2024).

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

Synnovis “was the victim of a ransomware cyberattack”, according to chief executive Mark Dollar.

“This has affected all Synnovis IT systems, resulting in interruptions to many of our pathology services,” he said.

The hospitals have declared a “critical incident” which is having a “major impact” on the delivery of services, with blood transfusions particularly affected.

Mr Dollar said the immediate impact is on patients using NHS services within the hospitals, as well as GP services across Bexley, Greenwich, Lewisham, Bromley, Southwark and Lambeth boroughs.

“We are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience and upset this is causing to patients, service users and anyone else affected,” Mr Dollar said.

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

Some procedures and operations have been cancelled or have been redirected to other NHS providers as hospital bosses continue to establish what work can be carried out safely.

One patient, Oliver Dowson, 70, was prepared for an operation from 6am on Monday at Royal Brompton when he was told by a surgeon at about 12.30pm that it would not be going ahead.

“The staff on the ward didn’t seem to know what had happened, just that many patients were being told to go home and wait for a new date,” he said.

“I’ve been given a date for next Tuesday and I am crossing my fingers – it’s not the first time that they have cancelled, they did it on 28 May too, but that was probably staff shortages in half-term week,” he said.

A spokesperson for NHS England London region said the attack was having a “significant impact” on 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 and patients should still attend appointments unless told otherwise, the spokesperson said.

They said they would continue updating patients on the impact and how they can still access care, and are working with the government’s National Cyber Security Centre to understand what happened.

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

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash.