Hackers in new attack on NHS

Emergency department affected

Hospitals and GP practices run by NHS Lanarkshire were last week hit by a second cyber attack.

Patients were warned not to go to A&E unless it was essential on Friday night.

Medical director for the acute division Jane Burns asked people to think before attending emergency departments while the systems were down.

She said: “I would ask that patients do not attend our hospitals unless it is essential.

“If you do turn up at A&E and do not require emergency care you may be sent away from the department or you may experience a lengthy wait.

“Emergency care will still be provided for those who do require to be seen.”

NHS Lanarkshire said this week that, following the detection of some malware on Friday, August 25, staff worked overnight to secure and reinstate the health board’s IT systems.

Chief executive Calum Campbell said: “We have identified the source of the malware and investigations are ongoing as to how this was able to infiltrate our network.

“Our staff have worked hard to minimise the impact on patients and our contingency plans have ensured we have been able to continue to deliver services while the IT issues were resolved.

“A small number of systems have been affected and these are in the process of being fixed.

“Unfortunately a small number of procedures and appointments have been cancelled as a result of the incident.

“I would like to apologise to anyone who has been affected by this disruption. However, I can assure you that work is already underway to reappoint patients.

“The majority of services have been restored but it may take some time to get services running as normal.

“We would ask patients who are attending hospital or out-of-hours services over the weekend to bear with us as they may experience longer than waits than usual.”

In May this year NHS Lanarkshire was one of 11 Scottish health boards affected by a huge cyber attack on the health service’s computer systems.

The nationwide assault on IT systems caused chaos in hospitals in Lanarkshire.

We have identified the source of the malware