NHS England London published its fourth weekly data update on 4 July 2024 on the clinical impact of the ransomware cyber attack against Synnovis on Monday 3 June1. The figures cover the two most affected trusts, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust1.
In the week of 24 to 30 June, 1,517 acute outpatient appointments and 136 elective procedures were postponed because of the attack at the two trusts1. Since 3 June, 4,913 acute outpatient appointments and 1,391 elective procedures have been postponed across the same two trusts1. The update also records 127 community outpatient appointments postponed in the last week, against 101 the week before, and 13 postponed elective procedures that were cancer treatments, against 24 the previous week1. Twenty-nine organs were diverted for use by other trusts, compared with 21 the week before1. No planned C-sections were postponed or rescheduled in the last week1.
Pathology services in south east London were operating at approximately 54% of normal capacity, up from 45% the previous week1. NHS England said some services, such as outpatient appointments, are now operating at similar levels to before the incident, but disruption continues elsewhere1. Urgent and emergency services have remained available as usual1. Primary care appointments are going ahead as normal, but blood tests are being prioritised for urgent cases, and GP referrals are significantly affected, with only urgent referrals accepted for blood sciences (haematology, biochemistry, immunology and virology); normal services are operating for histology and cervical smears1.
Dr Chris Streather, Medical Director for NHS London, said:
"Although we are seeing significant progress, with most services operating near to normal, we continue to work tirelessly in partnership with our colleagues across London to ensure all services are back to being fully operational as quickly as possible."
NHS Blood and Transplant called out to O Positive and O Negative donors to urgently book appointments at one of the 25 town and city centre NHS Blood Donor Centres in England to boost stocks of O type blood following the cyber incident1. NHS England said patients will be kept informed about any changes to their treatment by the NHS organisation caring for them, through texts, phone calls and letters1. A helpline has been set up for people impacted, on 0345 87789671. NHS England said that given the complexity of the investigation, it may be some time before it is clear which individuals have been impacted1.
Why it matters for households
The disruption is concentrated in south east London. Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts remain in a critical incident, while Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Bromley Healthcare and primary care services in South East London continue to be significantly impacted1. Households in that area who are waiting for blood tests may find that only urgent cases are being prioritised, and that GP referrals for blood sciences are accepted only where urgent1. NHS England advises patients to access urgent and emergency services in the normal way, by dialling 999 in an emergency and otherwise using NHS 111 through the NHS App, online or by phone1. The guide to NHS appointments, A&E and tests during an IT outage sets out how such disruption affects appointments and tests, and the Synnovis incident guide covers this attack in detail.
What happens next
The figures are drawn from unvalidated management information and do not include appointments postponed because of industrial action by junior doctors, which ran from 7am on Thursday 27 June until 7am on Tuesday 2 July1. NHS England said updates will be provided weekly as the incident continues, with the next update on Thursday 11 July1.
NHS Services During an IT Outage
