By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
NHS England has announced that disruptions to GP services caused by a global IT outage may persist into the coming week. A spokesperson informed to us that while digital systems for GPs and pharmacies have been restored "in most areas," surgeries will need time to manage a backlog of appointments.
The outage, which occurred on Friday, led to the cancellation of routine appointments across the UK and prevented pharmacies from accessing digital prescription records. The disruption, affecting various sectors including travel and banking, was triggered by a faulty update to CrowdStrike antivirus software that caused Microsoft systems to crash. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz confirmed the issue was resolved on Friday but acknowledged that full restoration of some systems might take time.
The NHS England spokesperson stated, "As practices recover from the loss of IT systems on Friday, there may be some continued disruption, particularly to GP services, in some areas into next week as practices work to rebook appointments. The advice for Monday remains that patients should attend appointments as normal unless told otherwise."
Despite the restoration of most systems, some healthcare workers continue to face difficulties accessing digital systems, raising concerns about worsening appointment backlogs. Dr. Sarah Jane Cowley, a GP in North London, reported that her practice is still unable to make appointments and view certain test results, describing the situation as "not sustainable for very long." Dr. Fari Ahmad, a GP in Wilmslow, Cheshire, echoed these concerns, predicting more issues later in the week due to the backlog.
The outage impacted the EMIS system, used by many GPs for managing appointment bookings, patient records, and sending prescriptions to pharmacies. Consequently, GPs were unable to access medical records or provide test results, and prescriptions had to be issued on paper, limiting surgeries to emergency appointments only.
Asif Akram, manager of White Rose Medical Practice in Barnsley, reported that as of 09:00 BST on Saturday, he was still unable to log into EMIS and feared more cancellations if systems weren't fully operational by Monday.
The NHS England spokesperson confirmed that most systems, including EMIS, are back online in most areas but are running slower than usual. Nick Kaye, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, noted that community pharmacies' digital systems are "by and large back online," though ongoing disruptions are expected due to prescription processing backlogs.
Additionally, more than 70 flights in and out of UK airports were cancelled by 16:00 BST on Saturday as airlines struggled with rebooking travelers during the peak travel period. Over 300 flights were cancelled on Friday due to disruptions in check in, boarding, and security systems, though it is unclear how many cancellations were directly related to the IT issues.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh reported that train operators' IT systems are functioning normally, although South Western Railways' ticket machines remain out of order. Meanwhile, cybersecurity experts, including CrowdStrike, have warned of scams exploiting the chaos by offering bogus software updates that could contain malware.
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