{"id":5497,"date":"2024-07-19T15:07:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/19\/it-outage-causing-disruption-in-majority-of-gp-practices-in-england\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T15:07:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:07:23","slug":"it-outage-causing-disruption-in-majority-of-gp-practices-in-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/19\/it-outage-causing-disruption-in-majority-of-gp-practices-in-england\/","title":{"rendered":"IT outage \u2018causing disruption in majority of GP practices\u2019 in England"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Most GP practices in England have suffered disruption as a result of the major global IT outage, causing problems with booking appointments and issuing prescriptions.<\/p>\n

But NHS England said there was currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services as a result of the mass computer failure<\/strong>, blamed on a defective Windows update.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Thousands of doctors’ surgeries have been affected after the widely-used EMIS appointment and patient record system went down.<\/p>\n

Global IT outage: Follow live<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pharmacies have also reported issues with accessing prescriptions from GP surgeries and said this would affect the delivery of medicines to patients.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

A spokeswoman for NHS England said: “The NHS is aware of a global IT outage and an issue with EMIS, an appointment and patient record system, which is causing disruption in the majority of GP practices.<\/p>\n

“The NHS has long-standing measures in place to manage the disruption, including using paper patient records and handwritten prescriptions, and the usual phone systems to contact your GP.<\/p>\n

“There is currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services, so people should use these services as they usually would.<\/p>\n

“Patients should attend appointments unless told otherwise. Only contact your GP if it’s urgent, and otherwise please use 111 online or call 111.”<\/p>\n

EMIS Web enables GP practices to book appointments, examine records and includes a clinical decision support tool as well as helping with admin.<\/p>\n

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Any form of disruption to our digital systems is a serious concern for GPs as it directly impacts on the care we can give to our patients.<\/p>\n

“Outages like this affect our access to important clinical information about our patients, as well as our ability to book tests, make referrals, and inform the most appropriate treatment plan.”<\/p>\n

Urging patients to “bear with” GPs, she added: “We really hope that the problems can be resolved quickly and that services are restored to normal as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the National Pharmacy Association said: “We’re aware that due to global IT outages that services in community pharmacies, including the accessing of prescriptions from GPs and medicine deliveries, are disrupted today.<\/p>\n

“We urge patients to be patient whilst visiting their pharmacy.<\/p>\n

“We’re urgently raising this issue with the NHS England.”<\/p>\n

Dr Farah Jameel, a GP in central London working at Museum Practice, said she was unable to access patient notes, imaging results, medication history and blood tests.<\/p>\n

‘This is unsafe’<\/strong><\/p>\n

She said: “I think we need to underline the clinical impact of this IT disruption on how significantly it has interrupted clinical care.<\/p>\n

“This is unsafe.”<\/p>\n

She added: “At present, we cannot access any patient notes and are trying to assess patients on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

“We are unable to access blood test results, imaging results, clinical history and anticipate that the clinical documentation work will accumulate through the course of the day.<\/p>\n

“Patient care pathways will be interrupted as we are unable to organise simple management plans like organising tests, and issuing regular medications.<\/p>\n

“We are operating a clinical triage system so that we can ensure safety of our patients and see those with the greatest clinical need. Deferring all others that can safely wait to another day.”<\/p>\n

The Wilmslow Health Centre in Cheshire wrote on X that practices “using the NHS commissioned GP computer system EMIS are currently without access to their IT systems”.<\/p>\n

It added: “This is beyond the control of GP surgeries. Please bear with us until we have our IT systems back online.”<\/p>\n

Solihull Healthcare Partnership in the West Midlands said on X: “Unfortunately there is a national issue with EMIS Web – our clinical computer system.<\/p>\n

“This will affect our ability to book\/consult with patients this morning.<\/p>\n

“We will update patients when we can. We apologise for the disruption.”<\/p>\n

Error message<\/strong><\/p>\n

A surgery in Putney, southwest London, showed an error message online when patients attempted to book appointments.<\/p>\n

Windrush Medical Practice in Witney, Oxfordshire, said it is continuing as normal but urged patients with “routine concerns” to wait until Monday.<\/p>\n

Central Lakes Medical Group in Ambleside wrote: “We’re impacted by the IT outage.<\/p>\n

“This will have a big effect on us, so apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused, and delays on the phone.”<\/p>\n

Cancellation warning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another post by Pocklington Group Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire said: “Due to ongoing Windows issues affecting IT worldwide, the practice is currently unable to function as normal.<\/p>\n

“This may result in appointments needing to be cancelled and rearranged. Updates will follow when available.”<\/p>\n

Salisbury District Hospital also confirmed in a post on social media that it had been impacted.<\/p>\n

It said: “We are suffering some delays at our hospital with our administrative services due to the global IT outage.<\/p>\n

“We ask patients and visitors to please bear with us as we use alternative methods.”<\/p>\n

West Herts Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which includes Watford General, Hemel Hempstead & St Albans City Hospitals, said in a post on X: “Patient services still running.<\/p>\n

“We have only experienced a minor impact to our IT services following today’s global IT outage.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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