The final stages of recovery following the cyber attack on pathology services provider Synnovis in June are almost complete, which means nearly all services are now up and running.
As a result of the attack, the last few months have seen 10,152 acute outpatient appointments and 1,710 elective procedures postponed at the most affected trusts: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
One of the final pieces in the jigsaw was the reconnection of blood transfusion laboratory IT systems. The attack meant the affected trusts were unable to carry out ‘cross-matching’ for blood transfusions so had to use O-type blood which is safe for all. This in turn, contributed to a national shortage of O-type blood supplies. The trusts have now moved back to being able to issue all blood group products for transfusions. While some important administrative work remains, any further impact on patient care will be minimal.
The amber alert for blood supplies remains in place and new and existing O negative and Black heritage blood donors are still being urged to come forward and donate.
NHS Blood and Transplant Director of Donor Experience Mark Chambers said: “This has been a tremendous team effort, and we’re deeply grateful to everyone who helped restore services. However, rebuilding blood stocks will take some time. We are still under a shortage alert and urgently need O negative and Black heritage donors to come forward.
“Existing O negative and RO donors are encouraged to book online or call 0300 123 23 23, while new donors are urged to visit one of 25 NHS donor centres across towns and cities. Please help by booking an appointment in the coming weeks and months – every donation makes a difference.”
To book an appointment to give blood, please go online at www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23
In a joint statement Professor Ian Abbs, Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Professor Clive Kay, Chief Executive of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said:
“The recovery of these services is the result of a phenomenal effort from colleagues who have been working relentlessly to get us to this position and we would like to thank everyone involved for their patience, flexibility and commitment during these challenging months.
“Alongside the very complex technical work that has taken place, colleagues have also been working hard to ensure that we were able to continue treating as many patients as possible. Despite this incredible team effort, we know that many patients have unfortunately had their care delayed during this period and we would like to apologise again for the inconvenience this has caused.”
NHS London Medical Director Chris Streather said: “The fact that we are seeing a full recovery of services is testament to the hard work of staff across the NHS since the cyber attack in June. I would also like to thank our patients for bearing with us as we tackled the effects of the attack.
“Testing services were recently returned to GPs across all south east London boroughs and we have seen mutual aid arrangements which have meant we’ve been able to continue to provide people across south east London with the care they need throughout this challenging period.”
Synnovis CEO Mark Dollar said: “The reconnection of our blood transfusion laboratory IT systems is a significant milestone in our recovery programme, meaning Trust partners can once again issue all blood group products for transfusions. Restoration of this particular system required intensive effort by experts within Synnovis, the NHS and suppliers, and I would like to express my gratitude for their hard work and determination.
“Due to the efforts of these individuals and many more like them, this first phase of our restoration plan is now complete and service users have access to almost all of the services that were available prior to the cyber attack.
“There is still work ahead of us to restore remaining business administrative IT systems within Synnovis, but thankfully we now see light at the end of this tunnel.”
Sam Hepplewhite, Director of Prevention and Partnerships, NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, said: “We are delighted that the transition back to Synnovis from our mutual aid providers for all our of acute hospital pathology services is now complete.
“We are incredibly grateful to our mutual aid partners who went above and beyond to provide support during the last three months and to our primary care colleagues who have done all they can to keep our residents healthy during this time. We do apologise to all of those people who have been affected and are still waiting to have their blood test undertaken. We are working hard to reduce the backlog as soon as possible.”
The NHS and Synnovis provided weekly updates following the attack on 3 June and set up a helpline to support people affected. The services most affected by the cyber attack were in south east London. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust were most affected, while Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Bromley Healthcare and primary care services in south east London were all affected and played a vital role in the coordinated response to the incident and recovery.
