IT outage affecting health services in North East and North Cumbria

The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) says GP surgeries and some hospitals have been affected by the international IT problem which has been disrupting transport, businesses and other services across the world. Ambulance services are busy but there is currently no known impact on 999 or other emergency services.

The NHS group says GP practices and NHS trusts have activated their business continuity plans and put mitigations in place to protect services while we work to resolve the problem. This includes things like using paper patient records, hand-writing prescriptions for patients and using phone systems rather than digital bookings.

Dr Neil O'Brien, chief medical officer at North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said: "Our teams are all working hard to minimise disruption to NHS services from this worldwide issue. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this causes, and would ask everyone to be patient while we manage the situation.

"GP practices, hospitals and community services are busier than usual, so we ask the public to use NHS services sensibly – only call 999 or go to A&E if it is life-threatening. GP practices are still open, but if you don't need their help urgently, please consider calling your surgery on another day instead.

"If you have a booked appointment, please do attend unless you are told otherwise."