Ministers coordinate ‘resilience response’ after ‘major’ cyber attack hits NHS systems across UK | UK News

Ministers are coordinating a ‘recovery response’ to a cyber attack affecting NHS systems across the UK.

Scottish Health Minister Humza Yousaf said ministers were being “constantly informed” of the incident and were “working closely on a four-country basis” to organize the response.

“There are plans to mitigate the impact but there will be some degree of disruption,” he said.

People seeking medical help through the NHS 111 service have been warned there may be delays after the attack resulted in a “major” computer system failure.

The security issue was identified at 7 a.m. Thursday and it affected the system used to dispatch ambulances, make after-hours appointments and issue emergency prescriptions.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was “regularly informed of the incident” affecting NHS 111 services across the UK.

He said: “NHS England has contingency plans in place in affected areas and service disruptions are minimal.

“People who are unwell can continue to use the 111 service or should call 999 in an emergency.”

There are concerns that these technical difficulties may not be fully resolved until next week.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said the outage was significant and had far-reaching effects – and affected all four countries in the UK.

Despite “developing and implementing plans so that services can continue to operate”, this weekend for 111 in Wales will be busier than usual – and it may take longer for services to continue. the call is answered.

NHS England said 111 services are still available and there is “very little disruption for now”, with “tried and tested contingency plans”.

A Scottish government spokesman said it was aware of a reported disruption to the system used by one of NHS Scotland’s providers – adding it was working with health boards and the National Cybersecurity Center “to fully understand the potential impact”.

Northern Ireland’s Department of Health is also working to minimize disruption and steps have been taken to avoid the risk of other critical systems and services being affected.

Advanced, a provider of software and services affected by the cyber attack, said the problem was only with a “small number of servers” that make up 2% of its healthcare and health infrastructure.

Chief executive Simon Short added: “We continue to work with the NHS and our health and care agencies as well as our technology and security partners, with a focus on getting it all back on track. systems over the weekend and early next week.”