Gran hit by huge delays
The IT applications used to retrieve test results, including blood, MRI and CT scans, have also been out of action, medics have told the Observer.
Ambulances have also been seen queueing up outside the affected hospitals’ emergency departments.
The NCA has ruled out any cyber-attack, malware or hacking as the cause, though the trust has not shared any initial findings about what kickstarted the disruption for patients and staff, saying the ‘main focus is restoration of services, once that’s done detailed root cause analysis work will take place’.
Dr Chris Brookes, Deputy CEO and Chief Medical Officer for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We would again extend apologies to any patient and their family whose care or experience has fallen below our usual standards.
“While we continue to make progress to fix some of the critical systems affected so they can be released to colleagues, we appreciate there may have been some delays as a result and some patients might not have been seen in a timely manner.
“Our teams continue to work incredibly hard and we thank everyone for their understanding at this challenging time, during which patient safety remains our priority.”
A 90-YEAR-OLD great-gran was left ‘freezing’ in the back of an ambulance for more than three hours, say her worried family.
The frail patient was rushed to Royal Oldham’s emergency department following a fall, and faced huge delays after reportedly being told staff could not check her in due to IT issues.
Her family claim she was then left on a bed in a ward corridor for another two hours.
She had been recovering from a hip replacement when she fell and seriously injured the other side of her body.
“My mother-in-law was freezing in that ambulance, in a massive amount of pain,” added the woman’s son-in-law.
Dr Chris Brookes, Chief Medical Officer for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to the patient and their family whose experience fell below our usual standards.”