NHS Works To Restore 111 System After Cyber-Attack Causes Delays

A cyber-attack disrupting the NHS’ 111 services may not be fully resolved until this week, according to a NHS digital service provider.

Advanced, which provides digital services for NHS 111, said it first spotted the attack at 7 a.m. BST on Thursday. It confirmed over the weekend that the issue was caused by a cyber-attack.

The company has provided little information on the issue, but industry watchers have said they suspect it is a ransomware attack. Ransomware groups have begun routinely targeting public infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.

‘Security issue’

Advanced chief executive Simon Short said the firm had identified a “security issue” that had “resulted in loss of service”.

“We can confirm that the incident is related to a cyber-attack and as a precaution, we immediately isolated all our health and care environments,” he said.

He said the issue had been limited to a “small number of servers”.

The company said the effects of the attack may not be fully resolved until this week.

Referral system

The attack targeted the system used to refer patients for care, including ambulances being dispatched, out-of-hours appointment bookings and emergency prescriptions.

The NHS said disruption was “minimal”.

“NHS 111 services are still available for patients who are unwell, but as ever if it is an emergency please call 999,” the NHS stated.

The National Crime Agency said it was “aware of a cyber incident” and was working with Advanced to investigate.

Delays

The Welsh Ambulance Service said it was likely to take longer for calls to be answered while the issue persists.

“There is a major outage of a computer system that is used to refer patients from NHS 111 Wales to out-of-hours GP providers,” the service said.

“The ongoing outage is significant and has been far-reaching, impacting each of the four nations in the UK.”

Camellia Chan, chief executive of computer security firm X-Phy, said there appeared to be “relatively little damage” but that the attack “could have been an awful lot worse”.

Digital upgrade

“Targeting healthcare organisations is becoming increasingly common, in part due to outdated equipment and underfunded IT departments, making them vulnerable,” she said.

“As more and more cybercriminals look to target healthcare organisations from several different angles, robust cybersecurity will be absolutely critical for the NHS.”