Ransomware Attack Disrupts Pathology Services at London Hospitals
A ransomware attack on Synnovis has disrupted pathology services at major London hospitals, affecting patient care and prompting an urgent response from NHS and cybersecurity teams. Learn more about the attack here.
- A ransomware attack on Synnovis has caused significant disruptions to pathology services at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, affecting patient care.
- Emergency care continues to be available, and efforts are underway by NHS and cybersecurity experts to assess and mitigate the impact of the incident.
London hospitals are facing significant disruptions in pathology services following a ransomware attack on Synnovis, a key service partner. NHS England’s London region confirmed the incident, which has affected systems crucial to the operations of Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts, and primary care services in southeast London.
A spokesperson for NHS England stated, “This incident is severely impacting service delivery. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to patients and their families.” Despite the disruptions, emergency care remains available, and patients are advised to use emergency services as usual and attend scheduled appointments unless notified otherwise. Updates will be provided to keep the public informed.
The National Cyber Security Centre and NHS Cyber Operations team are urgently working to assess the impact. According to internal communications leaked by The Sunday Times, the situation was declared a “critical incident” on Tuesday morning.
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Ian Abbs, CEO of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, confirmed that Synnovis experienced a major IT incident that disconnected their systems. “This is severely impacting our services, particularly blood transfusions. Some procedures have been canceled or redirected,” Abbs stated. He expressed regret for the disruption and assured that an incident response structure is in place, with regular meetings to determine the next steps.
Leaked documents revealed that the WinPath blood transfusions IT system is down across all sites, halting elective surgeries at Royal Brompton and Harefield. However, the BloodTrack and EPIC systems remain operational, allowing for the administration of urgent blood components.
Mark Dollar, CEO of Synnovis, indicated that efforts are underway to understand the incident fully and mitigate its impact. “We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to patients and service users. Our IT experts are working closely with NHS partners to address the issue,” he said.
The incident is reminiscent of a previous ransomware attack on Synlab Italia by the Black Basta group, though there is no evidence linking the two events. Synnovis emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity and the ongoing efforts to protect their systems against such attacks.
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