NHS England London published its fifteenth weekly update on the clinical impact of the ransomware attack on pathology provider Synnovis on 19 September 2024. The attack took place on 3 June1. In the week of 9 to 15 September, six acute outpatient appointments and one elective procedure were postponed across the two most affected trusts, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust1.
Cumulative totals since the attack stand at 10,146 acute outpatient appointments and 1,705 elective procedures postponed at the two trusts1. The update states that none of the postponed procedures were cancer treatments, no organs were diverted for use by other trusts, and no caesarean sections were postponed in the last week1. Six outpatient appointments were postponed in the week, compared with 11 the week before, and no community outpatient appointments were postponed1.
Almost all of Synnovis' services for GPs and hospitals are now operating at full capacity, and testing services have been returned to GPs across all south east London boroughs1. Some manual processes remain while Synnovis rebuilds the electronic link between laboratories and service users1. Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College Hospital 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 affected and involved in the incident response1.
"We are now seeing consistently low numbers of appointments and procedures being cancelled and postponed, which is a testament to the hard work of staff over the last few months, not only at the most affected trusts but across the NHS."
The update also carries a continuing call for blood donors. O negative and O positive donors are still asked to urgently book appointments at donor centres, through blood.co.uk or on 0300 123 23 231. NHS London says it is working to fully restore blood transfusion services in the next few weeks1.
| Measure (week 9 to 15 September unless stated) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Acute outpatient appointments postponed in the week | 6 (11 the previous week) |
| Elective procedures postponed in the week | 1 (2 in the week beginning 2 September) |
| Community outpatient appointments postponed in the week | 0 |
| Caesarean sections postponed in the week | 0 |
| Acute outpatient appointments postponed since 3 June | 10,146 |
| Elective procedures postponed since 3 June | 1,705 |
Why it matters for households
The figures cover south east London, where Synnovis provides pathology services. Patients at the two most affected trusts, and at Oxleas, Lewisham and Greenwich, Bromley Healthcare and local primary care, remain within an ongoing critical incident response1. GP testing has resumed across all boroughs, but blood transfusion restoration is still in progress, and the call for O group donors continues1.
NHS London's advice to the public is unchanged: continue to attend booked appointments unless contacted to say otherwise, with changes to treatment communicated by the NHS organisation providing care through texts, phone calls and letters1. It advises using NHS 111 through the NHS App, online or by phone for non-urgent care, and dialling 999 in an emergency in the normal way1. Patients waiting for blood tests are advised to keep an eye on Swiftqueue, the online booking service, as more appointments become available1. A helpline for people affected is available on 0345 87789671.
The site's guide to the Synnovis ransomware incident and London NHS pathology and its guide to NHS appointments, A&E and tests during an IT outage set out what these disruptions mean in practice; the cyber-attacks hub covers wider service failures.
What happens next
NHS England London says updates will be provided weekly while the incident continues, with the next update due on Thursday 26 September1. It says the NHS will continue to provide updates as more detail becomes available through Synnovis' full investigation1. Synnovis chief executive Mark Dollar said the majority of hospital services are now operating as they were before the attack, although some processes are still being conducted manually while digital interfaces are rebuilt1.
Synnovis Ransomware and NHS Labs
NHS Services During an IT Outage
