Updates have been added to this page as information became available.
INITIAL SITUATION OVERVIEW - 9:00am (19/7/24):
There is currently a major worldwide Microsoft Outage which is also affecting local GP surgeries across the UK including those in North Cumbria.
This is affecting their IT systems. Please be patient with your practice teams who are working under extreme pressure whilst they await a resolution. This is a situation completely out of their control and whilst they have business continuity in place this is causing disruption and for some practices will mean there phone lines will also be affected along with access to their IT systems including clinical systems - meaning patient records.
You should attend for appointments as usual unless advised by your individual practice. Staff will be adapting appropriately to these circumstances (for example practice and community teams operating with paper systems and records today where required).
UPDATES:
The most recent updates are at the top.
** Update: 22/7/24 - 11:30am **
North Cumbria GP Practices & Community Pharmacies
We have been advised by the team at EMIS who provide GP practices across North Cumbria with their clinical systems that they are back up and running for work deemed absolutely necessary. Practices have been asked to avoid using their IT systems for some work until tomorrow (Tuesday 23rd July).
This is of course good news however, please bear in mind that both GP & Pharmacy colleagues now face a backlog of work that needs entered into systems and in respect of pharmacies and dispensing GP practices there is a very high number of outstanding prescription requests that need to be processed as part of this backlog.
Once again thank you for your patience whilst colleagues continue to work through this. Please remember this situation was completely out of the control of teams working in GP Practices & Community Pharmacies. #HelpUsHelpYou
For GP appointments please attend as usual unless you hear otherwise from your practice.
** Update: 21/7/24 - 6:00pm **
As your GP practices across North Cumbria return to full service on Monday 22nd July, please be aware that they will not know how their IT systems will operate following the global outage until they open at 8am and attempt to run their systems to their full extent. Many have been working over the weekend however, until using all systems any legacy issues at individual practices from Friday may not yet be known.
Please be assured that your local GP practice team will be doing the very best they can to work through the backlog of work created by Fridays outage and to return to usual levels of service.
Thank you for the patience shown on Friday and over the weekend to staff across our system who have continued to work to the very best of their ability dealing with a situation completely out of their control. This was a global IT Outage that affected the clinical system (EMIS) used by all GP Practices in North Cumbria.
Please attend for all pre booked appointments on Monday as normal unless advised otherwise by your GP practice.
** Update: 16.20pm 19/7/24 **: Major IT issue affecting GP Practices & wider services globally & across North Cumbria.
All GP Practices across North Cumbria work on a clinical system called “EMIS” the latest update we have is below, as you can see our GP practices continue to face significant difficulties with their systems.
EMIS Web Update:
“Work is ongoing to restore service to EMIS Web following the third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally.
We are successfully bringing some services back online, however some functionality may be initially limited.
We expect this disruption to continue through the evening and into the weekend. We are exploring ways to safely accelerate this work to restore service to all affected services as soon as possible”
Please attend for appointments as usual unless advised by your local GP practice.
All Services are busier than usual so please use them carefully - please only call 999 or go to A&E if it's life-threatening.
GP practices are still open, but if you do not need their help urgently, please consider calling them on another day instead.
Thank you for your patience.
**UPDATE SUMMARY 15:10pm 19/7/24 ** : The global outage continues to affect local GP Practices but staff are working hard to adapt accordingly. However, please remember to only contact your GP practice if absolutely urgent OR use the 111 online service https://111.nhs.uk/ or dial 111. For symptoms requiring an emergency response please dial 999 as normal and when appropriate.
Don't forget that pharmacists can also provide advice on a range of conditions and support you with minor illness - you can check your local pharmacy at: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy
Your patience is very much appreciated at this time as this IT issue may impact your practice with things like: access to appointment booking, medical records, test results and prescriptions. Staff are adapting appropriately where possible, but please show consideration that they are working within these challenging and unexpected circumstances.
Thank You to those patients who are being respectful and understanding through this extremely difficult period that is completely out of their control. As you will see from news reports this has been a major worldwide Outage affecting many GP Practices across the UK as well as impacting flights globally and many other organisations.
**UPDATE 13.30pm 19/7/24 ** :
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."
**UPDATE 10.45am 19/7/24 ** : We have had confirmation that 111 online and 111 phones ARE available if required.
Please only contact your GP practice if urgent or please use the 111 service https://111.nhs.uk/ or dial 111. For symptoms requiring an emergency response please dial 999.
GP Practice systems remain impacted in respect of IT along with some phones systems but please attend for any pre booked appointments unless advised directly by your GP practice. This is a global IT issue and is outside the control of our GP practices. Thank you for your patience at this time.
** UPDATE: 10.25am 19/7/24 ** : GP Practices across North Cumbria (and nationally) remain affected by this global IT outage. Thank You to those patients who are being respectful and understanding through this extremely difficult period that is completely out of their control.
