People who contacted the NHS 111 service have been warned of delays due to a major IT system disruption caused by a cyber attack.
The problem is affecting some services across the UK, including the system used to refer patients for care, including ambulances being dispatched, booking appointments out of hours and prescriptions emergency The perpetrators are understood to be cybercriminals rather than a nation-state.
The National Crime Agency said it was “aware of a cyber incident” and was working with Advanced, a company that provides digital services for NHS 111. The attack happened at 7am on Thursday , Advanced said.
Simon Short, the company’s chief operating officer, told the BBC: “We can confirm that the incident is related to a cyber attack and as a precaution, we immediately isolated all of our health and care environments.
“Early intervention by our incident response team contained this issue to a small number of servers representing 2% of our health and care infrastructure.”
The Welsh Ambulance Service described the disruption as “significant”, “large” and “far-reaching” and said it was affecting all four nations of the UK.
The Ambulance Service warned that the weekend will be busier than usual for NHS 111 in Wales and said that while the ambulance service and local health boards are “maximizing” the ability to answer calls, “it may take longer to answer calls and we thank the public for their patience.”
An NHS spokesman said: “NHS 111 services are still available for patients who are unwell, but as always, if it’s an emergency, call 999.
“At present there is minimal disruption and the NHS will continue to monitor the situation as it works with Advanced to resolve its software system as quickly as possible – tried and tested contingency plans are in place for local areas using this service”.
A Scottish Government spokesman said it is “working with all health boards in a four-nation partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre. [NCSC] and the supplier to fully understand the potential impact”. He said there are “continuity plans.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health in Northern Ireland said it was working to keep disruption to a minimum. He said: “As a precaution, to avoid risking other critical systems and services, access to company services from the HSC [Health and Social Care system] has been disabled while the incident is contained.”
On Thursday, industry magazine Pulse reported that NHS England warned family doctors in London that they could see an increased number of patients referred by NHS 111 due to the “major technical issue”.
An NCSC spokesman said it is aware of an incident affecting some services provided by Advanced, adding: “We are working with the company to fully understand the impact, while supporting the NHS.”