A major cyber incident has reportedly hit a hospital on Merseyside, leading to patients being turned away from appointments.
Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has declared an incident at Arrowe Park Hospital indicating that it was caused by a cyber security breach.
It issued a statement saying: “A major incident has been declared at the trust for cyber security reasons.
“Our business continuity processes are in place, and our priority remains ensuring patient safety. All outpatient appointments scheduled today are cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience and we will contact our patients as soon as possible to rearrange.
“We urge all members of the public to attend the emergency department only for genuine emergencies. For non-urgent health concerns, please use NHS 111, visit a walk-in centre, urgent treatment centre, your GP, or pharmacist.”
Working to downtime
A report in the Liverpool Echo said an email to staff indicated that the trust was working to downtime processes and a staff member said there was no access to any electronic records.
In addition, patients have said they were told the hospital could not take any appointments because of the lack of access to records.
