Critical incident declared as cyber attack affects major London hospitals

Major hospitals in London have declared a critical incident after a cyber attack led to operations being cancelled and patients being diverted elsewhere for care.

NHS officials said they were working with the National Cyber Security Centre after the attack on Synnovis, which provides pathology services to large hospitals and GP surgeries in the capital.

The company said the ransomware attack has affected all of its IT systems, which has impacted its pathology services.

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.

Synnovis was the victim of a ransomware cyberattack. This has affected all Synnovis IT systems, resulting in interruptions to many of our pathology services.

Mark Dollar, Synnovis chief executive

Health service leaders said there has been a “significant impact” King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ – including the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London Children’s Hospital – and GP services in south-east London.

A memo to staff said the “critical incident” has had a “major impact” on the delivery of services, with blood transfusions particularly affected.

Patients have described last-minute cancellations to operations and blood tests.

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Source: The Independent, 4 June 2024