GPs and train stations affected by global IT problem

Commuters at Reading station experienced issues with ticket machines

A global IT meltdown has caused disruption across Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

Commuters have experienced issues with ticket machines at railway stations, and GP surgeries have been unable to access patient records or book appointments.

Dr Gwyneth Rogers at Banbury Cross Health Centre said they were being affected in a "big way".

The outage has caused disruption around the world across businesses and government agencies.

NHS England said most GP practices were affected. Many use the EMIS IT system, which has been hit by the problems.

Banbury Cross Health Centre has a basic system running, but cannot request tests or issue prescriptions.

Dr Rogers said: "For some of our clinicians it works briefly, but because the whole system hasn't completely broken our IT system is trying to connect with the network, so it won't let us use the back up system.

"Occasionally we get brief glimpses of patient records but not that we can look at, for example blood results or previous consultations."

Marcham Road Family Health Centre in Abingdon said it also could not see patient profiles.

The Manor Surgery in Oxford advised anyone with non-emergency queries to contact it on Monday.

Surgeries in Thame, Didcot and Chipping Norton were among many others reporting problems.

Dr Rachael de Caux, chief medical officer at Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) Integrated Care System, said: "We understand this is a worrying incident for patients and our NHS staff...

"We would like to reassure people that we are working together across our system and we have back-up plans in place across our services to ensure patient care and safety, while urgent work is underway to fix the IT problems as quickly as possible.

"It is important that patients attend booked appointments at GP practices and hospitals as planned unless they hear from the NHS directly."

Paul Gentleman, deputy head of external communications at GWR, told the BBC: "Customer-facing systems, things like the information screens at stations, and some of our ticket vending machines and ticket gates are being affected, but the actual trains themselves and the operational systems, they’re actually all running fine and are totally unaffected by this at the moment."

But GWR advised passengers to allow more time for journeys because of delays in obtaining tickets and passing through ticket gates.

A spokesperson for South Western Railway said while train services were "currently running well" some retail systems and ticket machines at stations were down. It advised customers to buy tickets via its website or app.

Oxford United FC said it had to suspend all ticketing sales and memberships. The historic Bodleian Libraries said it was unable to accept card payments.

Kevin Gibbs, executive director for communities at Bracknell Forest Council, said 90 staff members had been disrupted because an IT application used in asset management had been affected.

"We are in contact with the supplier and are starting to regain access to the platform following a fix," he explained.

“Our staff have been advised to check their business continuity plans today so that we can continue to provide essential services in the event of any additional disruption.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and take necessary remedial steps, if and when needed."

West Berkshire Council said its systems were unaffected, but there were "reports of some limited disruption on services which use third-party software".

"We are investigating these and will work with our suppliers to resolve them as soon as we can," it added.

Reading Borough Council said it was not aware of any issues but was monitoring the situation.

Several emergency service providers, such as Thames Valley Police, South Central Ambulance Service, and Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said they were not affected.

Vodafone, which has its headquarters in Newbury, said it was “still assessing the impact of the IT outage on Vodafone systems”, but had no significant issues to report.

Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike said a content update for its Windows hosts was to blame for the issues.

The IT failures have also led to long queues at airports and knocked Sky TV off air.