Global IT outage: Statement from HWE ICB Friday 19 July

Posted on July 19th, 2024

The global IT outage is causing disruption to some of the IT systems used by some of the NHS organisations in our area, which is affecting a number of patient services. 

Most of the GP practices in south west Hertfordshire, and a handful of the GP practices in east and north Hertfordshire and west Essex are affected.  

Measures are in place to manage the disruption, including using paper records and handwritten prescriptions.  

Anyone who has a booked appointment with their GP should attend as planned, although there may be some delays and your patience will be appreciated. Practices that are affected are contacting patients to keep them informed. 

If you have been told that your GP practice has been affected, and were intending to contact your GP today about a routine health issue, please wait until next week when we hope to have systems back up and running.  

Some Hertfordshire and west Essex pharmacies are experiencing difficulties with accessing prescriptions from GPs and some medicine deliveries may also be disrupted. 

East and North Herts NHS Trust, which runs the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, the New QEII in Welwyn Garden City, Hertford County Hospital and Mount Vernon Cancer Centre is affected by IT issues but staff are using alternative paper systems to keep disruption to patient services to a minimum.  Please continue to attend planned appointments unless you are contacted.  

All of our area’s Urgent Treatment walk-in centres are expected to be particularly busy today, so be prepared for a long wait if you need to attend. 

Please be patient with NHS staff in all services who are working hard to support patients at this challenging time. 

There is currently no known impact on NHS 999 calls, so people should call 999 in a life or limb-threatening emergency, as usual.  

For health advice, go to NHS.UK, or visit NHS 111 online. 

This is a developing situation, and Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB will release a further update later today.