Where’s Jeremy? Hunt stays silent

THE Health Secretary has come under fire for failing to explain how the NHS came to be embroiled in the greatest cyber attack in its history.

Since the crisis happened on Friday, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has been left to field questions, with no word from Jeremy Hunt about how the health service was left so vulnerable to attack.

One IT expert said Mr Hunt should be “roasted in Parliament” for the failure of hospitals to carry out essential security updates.

Several medical professionals asked why Mr Hunt sanctioned the end of a government contract supporting the outdated Windows XP operating service in 2015, knowing that the NHS remained reliant on it.

Last year a survey found nine in 10 NHS trusts were still using the system, and one in 20 continues to do so, despite the lack of security updates.

On Friday, Microsoft took the unusual step of issuing such updates, although it officially stopped supporting the system three years ago. “It’s astonishing that the Health Secretary has not been out explaining what he’s going to do to keep patients safe when such a major incident has taken place on his watch,” said Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary.

“Operations have been cancelled and patients put at risk. Cyber security can’t

‘We need to know what action Jeremy Hunt is going to take to protect the public’

just be left to the Home Office, we need to know what action Jeremy Hunt is going to take to protect the public from an attack like this in future.”

Yesterday Labour accused the Government of having “cut the IT and infrastructure budget” by £1 billion in the NHS.

The Prime Minister and Home Secretary have both spoken about the crisis, with Ms Rudd’s most recent comments at the weekend coming after she chaired a Cobra meeting about it.