IT disruption
4pm, Thursday 25 May
We are steadily bringing our clinical systems back online, with imaging and pathology services now running as normal.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of our staff and quickly implementing our tried and tested contingency plans we have been able to keep cancellations to a minimum, with all urgent patients receiving timely treatment. However, we are very sorry to those affected by delays and cancellations and our teams are working across weekends to provide rescheduled appointments for as soon as possible.
Although staff now have access to emails, it may take time for us to answer queries from members of the public due to a large backlog of messages to be processed. We apologise for the delay.
It is too early at this stage to speculate about the causes of the disruption. Alongside other NHS organisations we will in due course hold an investigation into what happened on 12 May, and apply any lessons we learn. We always work closely with our anti-virus supplier to ensure testing and protection is up-to-date, and the anti-virus software is updated daily.
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4pm, Wednesday 24 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Staff across the Barts Health group of hospitals are working tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care to our patients while recovering from the impact of the NHS cyber attack.
We activated our tried and tested contingency plans, and are steadily bringing our clinical systems back online.We are extremely grateful to our staff for their dedication and commitment to patients at this time.
We are continuing to treat as many of our patients as possible, and although there have been some delays, we are keeping cancellations to the absolute minimum. Senior clinicians are reviewing all appointments to ensure urgent cases receive timely treatment.
We are very sorry for any delays and cancellations, and continue to ask patients and our partners (like GPs) to be patient while we work to resolve all the issues.
We are only now beginning to regain access to emails, for example, although there is a huge backlog of messages to be processed so it may take time before we can answer any queries that have been sent in by members of the public.
For the moment we are asking the public to only attend A&E in an emergency, and to use other NHS services for urgent treatment if at all possible. However anyone who has a booked appointment for surgery or in an outpatients clinic should continue to attend unless we telephone you beforehand.
Our priority at the moment is to ensure that we can return to business as usual as soon as possible. Alongside other NHS organisations we will in due course hold an investigation into what happened on 12 May, and apply any lessons we learn.
We always work closely with our anti-virus supplier to ensure testing and protection is up-to-date, and the anti-virus software is updated daily.
It is too early at this stage to speculate about the causes of the disruption. Our priority is to keep patients safe and provide the treatment they need.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Thursday.
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances. However we have cancelled a small number of planned operations and clinics on Thursday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The vast majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Thursday 25 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________
4pm, Tuesday 23 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Staff across the Barts Health group of hospitals are working tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care to our patients while recovering from the impact of the NHS cyber attack.
We activated our tried and tested contingency plans, and are steadily bringing our clinical systems back online.We are extremely grateful to our staff for their dedication and commitment to patients at this time.
We are continuing to treat as many of our patients as possible, and although there have been some delays, we are keeping cancellations to the absolute minimum. Senior clinicians are reviewing all appointments to ensure urgent cases receive timely treatment.
We are very sorry for any delays and cancellations, and continue to ask patients and our partners (like GPs) to be patient while we work to resolve all the issues.
We are only now beginning to regain access to emails, for example, although there is a huge backlog of messages to be processed so it may take time before we can answer any queries that have been sent in by members of the public.
For the moment we are asking the public to only attend A&E in an emergency, and to use other NHS services for urgent treatment if at all possible. However anyone who has a booked appointment for surgery or in an outpatients clinic should continue to attend unless we telephone you beforehand.
Our priority at the moment is to ensure that we can return to business as usual as soon as possible. Alongside other NHS organisations we will in due course hold an investigation into what happened on 12 May, and apply any lessons we learn.
We always work closely with our anti-virus supplier to ensure testing and protection is up-to-date, and the anti-virus software is updated daily.
It is too early at this stage to speculate about the causes of the disruption. Our priority is to keep patients safe and provide the treatment they need.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Tuesday.
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances. However we have cancelled a small number of planned operations and clinics on Tuesday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The vast majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Wednesday 24 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________
4pm, Monday 22 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Staff across the Barts Health group of hospitals are working tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care to our patients while recovering from the impact of the NHS cyber attack.
We activated our tried and tested contingency plans, and are steadily bringing our clinical systems back online.We are extremely grateful to our staff for their dedication and commitment to patients at this time.
We are continuing to treat as many of our patients as possible, and although there have been some delays, we are keeping cancellations to the absolute minimum. Senior clinicians are reviewing all appointments to ensure urgent cases receive timely treatment.
We are very sorry for any delays and cancellations, and continue to ask patients and our partners (like GPs) to be patient while we work to resolve all the issues.
We are only now beginning to regain access to emails, for example, although there is a huge backlog of messages to be processed so it may take time before we can answer any queries that have been sent in by members of the public.
For the moment we are asking the public to only attend A&E in an emergency, and to use other NHS services for urgent treatment if at all possible. However anyone who has a booked appointment for surgery or in an outpatients clinic should continue to attend unless we telephone you beforehand.
Our priority at the moment is to ensure that we can return to business as usual as soon as possible. Alongside other NHS organisations we will in due course hold an investigation into what happened on 12 May, and apply any lessons we learn.
We always work closely with our anti-virus supplier to ensure testing and protection is up-to-date, and the anti-virus software is updated daily.
It is too early at this stage to speculate about the causes of the disruption. Our priority is to keep patients safe and provide the treatment they need.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Tuesday.
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances. However we have cancelled a small number of planned operations and clinics on Tuesday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The vast majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Tuesday 23 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________
2.30pm, Sunday 21 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Staff across the Barts Health group of hospitals are working tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care to our patients while recovering from the impact of the cyber attack.
One week after declaring a major incident, we have now swept all our 10,000 PCs for the virus and are steadily bringing our clinical systems back on line.
We activated our tried and tested contingency plans, and are extremely grateful to our staff for their dedication and commitment to patients. Thank you, everyone.
We have continued to treat as many of our patients as possible, and although there have been some delays, we have kept cancellations to a minimum. Senior clinicians have reviewed all appointments to ensure urgent cases receive timely treatment.
Here at the Royal London A&E, for example, we have seen more than 2,500 people in A&E in the last week, which is about 80% of the normal volume of activity we would expect to get.
But our manual records indicate that attendances at all three of our A&E departments are again running at normal levels. This means we are now seeing more than 400 people a day in A&E at each hospital - The Royal London, Whipps Cross and Newham.
Despite the disruption in the last week, we have performed almost 1,000 routine operations, which is 65 per cent of those booked. Most of the cancellations were in the early part of last week.
Between Monday and Friday of last week, we saw almost 13,000 people in outpatients, which is 75 per cent of those booked.
These numbers are a tribute to the tremendous work done by our staff in very trying circumstances which was not of their doing. Many admin and clerical staff have been volunteering to help keep clinical services going, for example by acting as internal messengers at our hospitals.
We are very sorry for any delays and cancellations, and continue to ask patients and our partners (like GPs) to be patient while we work to resolve all the issues.
We still don’t have access to emails, for example, so are having to communicate with each other and people outside through other channels.
For the moment we are asking the public to only attend A&E in an emergency, and to use other NHS services for urgent treatment if at all possible. However anyone who has a booked appointment for surgery or in an outpatients clinic should continue to attend unless we telephone you beforehand.
Our priority at the moment is to ensure that we can return to business as usual as soon as possible. Alongside other NHS organisations we will in due course hold an investigation into what happened on 12 May, and apply any lessons we learn.
We always work closely with our anti-virus supplier to ensure testing and protection is up-to-date, and the anti-virus software is updated daily.
It is too early at this stage to speculate about the causes of the disruption. Our priority is to keep patients safe and provide the treatment they need.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Monday
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances. However we have reduced the volume of planned operations and clinics on Monday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Monday 22 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________
4.30pm, Thursday 18 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
We are working around the clock to combat the effects of last week’s unprecedented IT attack. We have made significant progress, meticulously checking and verifying hundreds of safe PCs to help us deliver safe care for our patients.
Thanks to the dedication and diligence of our staff, all of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and the majority of our appointments are going ahead. Yesterday, over 80% of outpatient appointments and over 70% of other planned appointments went ahead.
We are very sorry for any delays and cancellations that patients experience during this disruption. In these circumstances, we would ask the public to only attend our emergency departments in an emergency and use other NHS services wherever possible. For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Friday 19 May
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances. However we have reduced the volume of planned operations and clinics on Friday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Friday 19 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________
3pm, Wednesday 17 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Barts Health staff are working tirelessly, using tried and tested processes to keep patients safe and well cared for.
We are no longer diverting ambulances from any of our hospitals. Trauma and stroke care is also now fully operational. However, we continue to experience IT disruption, and we are very sorry for any delays and cancellations that patients experience.
In these circumstances, we would ask the public to only attend our emergency departments in an emergency and use other NHS services wherever possible. For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Thursday 18th May
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances. However we have reduced the volume of planned operations and clinics on Thursday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Thursday 18 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
4pm, Tuesday 16 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Barts Health staff are working tirelessly, using tried and tested processes to keep patients safe and well cared for.
We are no longer diverting ambulances from any of our hospitals. Trauma and stroke care is also now fully operational. However, we continue to experience IT disruption, and we are very sorry for any delays and cancellations that patients experience.
In these circumstances, we would ask the public to use other NHS services wherever possible. For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Wednesday 17th May
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are accepting ambulances.
However we have reduced the volume of planned operations and clinics on Wednesday to ensure we can continue to run all services safely.
The majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will continue at each of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will contact patients directly to make them aware, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Wednesday 17 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other relevant information (including any previous clinic letters you may have).
We will prioritise clinically urgent appointments, and our clinical teams are reviewing all booked appointments to inform our decisions. In addition, we have asked all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________
4.45pm, Monday 15 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Barts Health staff have been working tirelessly, using tried and tested processes to keep patients safe and well cared for.
We are no longer diverting ambulances from any of our hospitals. Trauma and stroke care is also now fully operational. However, we continue to experience IT disruption and we are very sorry for any delays and cancellations that patients have experienced.
As our hospitals are still experiencing some delays and disruption, we would ask the public to use other NHS services wherever possible. For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Tuesday 16th May
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are now accepting ambulances.
We have reduced the volume of planned services on Tuesday to ensure we can continue to run services safely.
The majority of planned surgery and outpatient appointments will be continuing at all of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will be contacting patients directly to make them aware and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Tuesday 16 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other information relevant to your appointment.
We will prioritise clinically urgent planned appointments and our clinical teams are reviewing all our appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we are asking all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________________
10.30am, Monday 15 May
Updated information on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Barts Health staff have been working tirelessly over the weekend, using tried and tested processes to keep patients safe and well cared for.
We are no longer diverting ambulances from any of our hospitals. Trauma and stroke care is also now fully operational. However, we continue to experience IT disruption and we are very sorry for any delays and cancellations that patients have experienced.
As our hospitals are still experiencing some delays and disruption, we would ask the public to use other NHS services wherever possible. For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th May
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, and we are now accepting ambulances.
We have reduced the volume of planned services on Monday and Tuesday to ensure we can continue to run services safely.
However, some planned surgery and some outpatient appointments will be continuing at all of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will be contacting patients directly to make them aware and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other information relevant to your appointment.
We will prioritise clinically urgent planned appointments and our clinical teams are reviewing all our appointments to inform our decisions.
In addition, we are asking all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
_______________________________________________________________________
Updated statement on IT disruption at Barts Health NHS Trust
Barts Health staff have been working tirelessly over the weekend, using tried and tested processes to keep patients safe and well cared for.
However, our hospitals are still experiencing IT disruption and we are very sorry for any delays and cancellations that patients have experienced.
As our hospitals are still experiencing some delays and disruption, we would ask the public to use other NHS services wherever possible. For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
Service information for patients planning to attend Barts Health hospitals on Monday 15 May
All of our hospitals remain open for emergency care, though some ambulances continue to be diverted to neighbouring hospitals.
We have slower than usual access to pathology and diagnostic services which means our services are running slower than normal, but they remain safe.
We will be reducing the volume of planned services on Monday to ensure we can continue to run services safely.
However, some planned surgery and some outpatient appointments will be continuing at all of our hospitals. This will include all renal dialysis services.
Where we need to cancel planned appointments, we will be contacting patients directly to make them aware and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. It is possible that we will not be able to contact all patients that we need to speak to, so we apologise if we are unable to proceed with your treatment once you arrive at hospital.
We will prioritise clinically urgent planned appointments and our clinical teams are reviewing all our appointments to inform our decisions.
If you are not contacted and you are due to attend one of our hospitals for treatment on Monday 15 May then please attend as planned. Please bring your appointment letter, medication and any other information relevant to your appointment.
In addition, we are asking all GPs in the area to avoid requesting non-urgent tests and scans from our hospitals.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as we work to resolve these issues.
Note:
Barts Health runs The Royal London Hospital, Newham Hospital, Whipps Cross Hospital, Mile End Hospital and St Bartholomew's Hospital.
_______________________________________________________________________
13 May 2017
We are continuing to deal with a major IT disruption and we are sorry for any delays experienced at our hospitals.
We have activated our major incident plan to make sure we can maintain the safety and welfare of patients.
Some ambulances are being diverted to neighbouring hospitals and we are very sorry that we have had to cancel some routine appointments. There will be no outpatient appointments at our hospitals on Saturday 13 May. All patients who have their appointment cancelled will be contacted as soon as possible to reschedule. We would ask members of the public to use other NHS services wherever possible.
For more information about other local health services please call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk.
All our staff are working hard to minimise the impact and we will post any further updates on this page.
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