NHS England London publishes weekly impact data on Synnovis cyber incident

NHS England London has begun publishing weekly management information on the clinical impact of the ransomware attack on Synnovis, the pathology laboratory that processes blood tests for NHS organisations primarily in South East London. The first update, published on 14 June 2024, covers the week of 3 to 9 June, the week the attack took place¹.

The figures cover the two most affected trusts, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Across the two, 814 elective procedures were postponed, of which 97 were cancer treatments, and 736 hospital outpatient appointments and 125 community outpatient appointments were postponed. Eighteen organs were diverted for use by other trusts, the majority of them kidneys, and five planned caesarean sections were postponed or rescheduled¹.

South East London pathology services have been running at approximately 10% of normal capacity, with half of that capacity ringfenced for patients at the two acute trusts. GP referrals have been significantly affected, with only urgent referrals accepted for blood sciences (haematology, biochemistry, immunology and virology); normal services are operating for histology and cervical smears. Optional blood borne virus tests for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, offered to A&E patients as part of a trial, are currently suspended. All unplanned services, including A&E, are open as normal¹.

Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts remain in a critical incident. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Bromley Healthcare and primary care services in South East London continue to be significantly affected and involved in the response¹.

NHS England London states that all numbers are drawn from unvalidated management information, provided in the interests of transparency¹.

Why it matters for households

The disruption is concentrated in South East London and affects patients with planned hospital care, GP blood tests and, in some cases, organ transplants. NHS England London advises patients to access services in the normal way, dialling 999 in an emergency and otherwise using NHS 111 through the NHS App, online or on the phone. Patients with a planned appointment at the two trusts who have not been contacted should attend as normal; trusts are contacting patients about changes by text, phone and letter¹.

NHS Blood and Transplant has called out to O Positive and O Negative donors to book appointments at one of the 25 town and city centre NHS Blood Donor Centres in England over the coming weeks, to boost stocks of O type blood following the incident. Appointments can be booked at blood.co.uk or by calling 0300 123 23 23¹.

The National Cyber Security Centre publishes advice for the public on spotting and protecting against cyber crime, and investigations continue into any possible impact on data¹. The Synnovis incident guide sets out the background, and the guide to NHS appointments, A&E and tests during an IT outage covers what patients can expect when services are disrupted.

What happens next

NHS England London says updates will be provided weekly while the incident continues, with the next update due on Friday 21 June¹. Synnovis is working on technical recovery, with plans to begin restoring some functionality in its IT system in the weeks to come; full restoration will take some time, and the need to re-book tests and appointments means some disruption will continue to be felt over coming months¹.