The procedures were canceled after the cyber attack hit major London hospitals

A number of procedures have been canceled or diverted to other NHS providers after a ransomware attack hit the capital’s major hospitals.

King’s College, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, including Royal Brompton and Evelina London The children’s hospital and primary care services were hit by the attack on pathology partner Synnovis on Monday.

Synnovis “was the victim of a ransomware cyberattack,” according to CEO Mark Dollar.

“This affected all Synnovis IT systems, resulting in disruptions to many of our pathology services,” he said.

Hospitals have declared a “critical incident” which is having a “major impact” on service delivery, with blood transfusions particularly affected.

Mr Dollar said the immediate impact was on patients using NHS services in hospitals as well as GP services in the boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich, Lewisham, Bromley, Southwark and Lambeth.

“We are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience and upset this is causing patients, service users and anyone else affected,” Mr Dollar said.

“We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact and will stay in touch with local NHS services to keep people informed of developments.”

Some procedures and operations have been canceled or diverted to other NHS providers as hospital chiefs continue to work out what activities can be carried out safely.

A patient, Oliver Dowson, 70, was being prepared for an operation at 6am on Monday at the Royal Brompton when he was told by a surgeon at around 12.30pm that he would not be going ahead .

“The ward staff didn’t seem to know what had happened, just that many patients were told to go home and wait for another appointment,” he said.

“I’ve been given an appointment for next Tuesday and I’m crossing my fingers – it’s not the first time they’ve cancelled, they did it on May 28, but it was probably understaffed in the middle of the week,” he said. said.

A spokesman for NHS England London region said the attack had a “significant impact” on services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts and primary care services in south-east London.

“We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing patients and their families.”

Emergency care is continuing and patients should still attend appointments unless told otherwise, the spokesman said.

They said they will continue to update patients on the impact and how they can still access care, and are working with the government’s National Cyber ​​Security Center to understand what happened.

The cyber incident it meant that some departments could not connect to their main server.

A senior source told the Health Service Journal (HSJ) that access to pathology results could take “weeks, not days”.

“Non-essential transfusions were stopped when the incident occurred,” Sky News science and technology editor Tom Clarke reported.

“Anyone who needs emergency transfusions has to do it with pen and paper, as I understand it. Obviously, that’s going to slow down blood matching and things like that.”

There are suggestions for urgent and emergency care from hospitals, as they may not be able to access rapid response blood test results.

Synnovis was formed from a partnership between SYNLAB UK and Ireland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

It describes itself as “one of the UK’s largest providers of pathology services” and aims to improve patient outcomes through “faster testing services and state-of-the-art laboratories”, according to its website.

Mr Dollar said Synnovis takes cyber security “very seriously” and that the attack could happen to “anyone”.

“This is a stark reminder that this type of attack can happen to anyone at any time and that, dishearteningly, the people behind it have no qualms about who their actions might affect,” he said.

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“The NHS is in a difficult situation in the face of prolific threats, exacerbated by recent IT budget cuts, and is now most vulnerable to cyber attacks,” Deryck Mitchelson, from cyber security firm Check Point, told Sky News .

“The healthcare sector is one of the most targeted industries globally, with the average organization experiencing over 2,140 cyber attacks per week.

“The NHS holds a huge volume of valuable personally identifiable information which could fetch a high price if sold on the dark web, so it is important to understand what has been extracted to fully appreciate the scale of the potential breach,” he said. .

There have been a number of recent attacks on NHS groups.

Last month, a group of ransomware released stolen patient data on the dark web after an attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway in March.

Julie White, chief executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway, described it as “an absolutely despicable criminal act”.

“We should not be surprised by this result because it is in line with how these criminal groups operate,” she said.

The health board urges the public to be alert to any attempt to access their work and personal data.

A government spokesman said: “Patient safety is our priority and the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the National Cyber ​​Security Center are working together to investigate the impact of a cyber incident affecting a pathology provider.

“The company is being assisted and we are working with them to minimize the impact on services for a number of NHS organizations in South East London.”