Cyber attack forces three major hospitals to cancel operations (2024)

A cyber attack has forced three major hospitals to cancel operations and divert emergency patients elsewhere.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital, which includes the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London Children’s Services, have been forced to cancel operations.

This includes transplant surgeries as the cyberattack is affecting pathology labs, which includes bloods transfusions.

In an email seen by The Sunday Times, Professor Ian Abbs, chief executive officer of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said an ‘ongoing critical incident’ was affecting the pathology services.

It reads: ‘I can confirm that out pathology partner Synnovis experienced a major IT incident earlier today, which is ongoing and means that we are not currently connected to the Synnovis IT servers.

‘The incident is also affecting King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and primary care across south east London.

‘This is having a major impact on the delivery of our services, with blood transfusions being particularly affected.

Have you been affected by cancellations? Email brooke.davies@metro.co.uk

‘Some activity has already been cancelled or redirected to other providers at short notice as we prioritise the clinical work that we are able to safely carry out.’

Some procedures 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 June 3, at Royal Brompton when he was told by a surgeon at about 12.30 that it would not be going ahead.

He said: ‘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.

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

A spokesman for King’s College Hospital in London confirmed it was affected by the cyber attack which is reported to have hit several NHS trusts in the capital.

The incident is thought to have occurred on Monday, meaning some departments could not connect to their main server.

In a letter to staff, King’s said the ‘major IT incident’ was having a major impact on the delivery of services, with blood transfusions particularly affected.

Some procedures have been cancelled or redirected to other NHS providers, it said.

NHS England London said: ‘On Monday 3 June Synnovis, a provider of lab services, was the victim of a ransomware cyber attack.

‘This is having a significant impact on the delivery of services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts and primary care services in south east London and we apologise for the inconvenience this is causing to patients and their families.

‘Emergency care continues to be available, so patients should access services in the normal way by dialling 999 in an emergency and otherwise using 111, and patients should continue to attend appointments unless they are told otherwise.

‘We will continue to provide updates for local patients and the public about the impact on services and how they can continue to get the care they need.

‘We are working urgently to fully understand the impact of the incident with the support of the government’s National Cyber Security Centre and our Cyber Operations team.’

According to the Health Service Journal (HSJ), several senior sources have told it the system has been the victim of a ransomware attack.

One said gaining access to pathology results could take ‘weeks, not days’.

There are suggestions urgent and emergency care at the hospitals will be affected as they may not be able to access quick-turnaround blood test results.

Synnovis is a provider of pathology services and was formed from a partnership between SYNLAB UK & Ireland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.

For more stories like this, check ournews page.

Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.

MORE : Deadly diets could be fuelling rise in colon cancer in the young

MORE :

MORE : Enzo Maresca must bring immediate success at Chelsea or risk becoming next Graham Potter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.