Patients affected by IT system issues to be seen by November

Stephen Austin says the trust had "found capacity in the system and had put on additional clinics in the coming weeks"

The Southern Health Trust has said that a majority of red flag patients whose appointments were postponed because of last week's IT outage will be seen by the end of October.

A major incident was declared on Wednesday at sites across the trust, including at Craigavon and Daisy Hill hospitals, with patients warned not to attend appointments or community services.

The trust's Chief Executive, Steve Spoerry, told Stormont's Health Committee that a review of what happened is underway.

He said the trust's response included apologising to those impacted, rebooking appointments, and learning from what happened to prevent a reoccurrence.

However, all routine reviews, which include patients who may attend a clinic every two years, may not be seen before January 21st, 2026.

More than 1,600 patients were affected across two days including those attending the Emergency Department.

Mr Spoerry said the incident not only affected patient care but also the work of health professionals across the system.

Health officials, including those from the Department of Health, said it was a complex electronic system and at least another three weeks would be required before an explanation could be given as to what exactly caused the incident.

It is thought it may have been triggered by an upgrade.

Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry was one of the places affected by the IT outage

The trust's medical director, Dr Stephen Austin, said no patient would be "bumped" on the waiting list for another patient who had been impacted by the IT incident.

He said the trust had "found capacity in the system and had put on additional clinics in the coming weeks" which should see all red flag patients seen by 30 October.

"We have been able to reschedule 80% of red flag patients with fewer than five patients still to be rescheduled at this point", Dr Austin said.

Officials reiterated that it was not Encompass - Northern Ireland's new electronic patient record system that went down - but instead the IT network within the Southern Trust.