Some disruption expected this week as NHS systems are restored following global IT outage

As the NHS recovers from last week's global IT outage, patients are being warned that some disruption will continue this week as systems are restored.

GP practices, which were heavily impacted by the outage, will be open for business as usual on Monday morning, but patients are asking to show their patience as things get back to normal this week.

Some practices may not be able to issue repeat prescriptions and patients are being advised that if they are likely to run out of their medication in the next 48 hours to see their pharmacist for an emergency supply.

The global outage that unfolded on Friday affected around 50% of GP practices as well as pharmacies and community services across the North East and North Cumbria. 

Systems are starting to come back online, with most users expected to have access to their systems by the end of the weekend.  There will be a knock-on effect going into the new week, but patients are being advised to attend appointments as normal, unless told otherwise.

During the outage, GP practices and NHS trusts activated their business continuity plans and put mitigations in place to protect services while work started to resolve the problem.  That meant having to use paper patient records, hand-writing prescriptions for patients and using phones rather than digital bookings.

Dr Neil O'Brien, chief medical officer at North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said: "We would like to apologise for any inconvenience the outage has caused and thank everyone for their patience as our teams have worked on restoring our systems.

"We are asking the public to use NHS services sensibly – only call 999 or go to A&E if it is life-threatening.

"GP practices will be back open on Monday morning, but if you don't need their help urgently, please consider calling your surgery on another day instead.

"If you have a booked appointment, please do attend unless you are told otherwise."