Cancer patients have operations cancelled after NHS cyber attacks

Hundreds of cancer patients have been affected by a major cyber attack leading to thousands of NHS appointments being cancelled.

People awaiting emergency surgery were reported to be among those who faced having their treatment cancelled in NHS hospitals in London.

The issue led to more than 200 emergency and life-saving operations, some which needed to be carried out within 24 hours, to be cancelled by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust (GSTT) and King’s College University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Details obtained by The Independent underline the impact on services in south London after Synnovis, a supplier of pathology services to the hospitals, was targeted by a ransomware attack from Russian cybercrime hackers Qilin.

A source said that Synnovis is unable to carry out tens of thousands of tests a day as it is unable to access systems and the situation has led both GSTT and King’s College to declare critical incidents.

Mental health and community care provider South London and Maudsley NHS trust have also been impacted.

An NHS London spokesperson said: “NHS staff are working around the clock to minimise the significant disruption to patient care following the ransomware cyberattack and we are sorry to all those who have been impacted. Pathology services are integral to a wide range of treatments and we know that a number of operations and appointments have been cancelled due to this attack.

“We are still working with hospitals and local GP services to fully assess the disruption, and ensure the data is accurate. In the meantime, our advice to patients remains if you have not been contacted please do continue to attend your appointments.”

It remains unclear as to whether patient data has been accessed in the incident.

The attack led to more than a third of procedures and operations to be cancelled, which includes more than 3,000 non-surgical appointments and hundreds of patients who have been referred for urgent cancer diagnosis.

Transplant operations and C-section operations have had to be cancelled following the incident.

Synnovis acts as the pathology platform for a number of hospitals including Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College Hospital, transplant centre the Royal Papworth, Harefield Hospital, and children’s hospital the Evelina.

It is also involved in supporting GP services across six London boroughs – Bromley, Southwark, Lambeth, Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Blood transfusions have been hampered following the attack.

A Synnovis spokesman said: “Synnovis continues to work closely with NHSE and the NCSC to prioritise and restore our services as quickly and safely as possible.

“We are in the process of implementing a number of operational workarounds to minimise the impact on partner services. Our teams are working continuously and we will provide further updates as we are able.”