Cyber attack sees over 1,000 NHS ops postponed

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was among the most affected trusts

More than 1,000 planned operations and over 3,000 outpatient appointments have been postponed amid ongoing disruption caused by a cyber attack that impacted London hospitals.

Synnovis, an agency which manages labs for NHS trusts and GPs in south-east London, was the victim of a data hack on 3 June.

New figures from NHS England show that since then, 3,396 appointments and 1,255 elective procedures have been postponed.

In a statement, the chief executives of two affected trusts said they were continuing to manage the attack as a "critical incident".

Data published on Thursday showed that between 17 June and 23 June, the two most affected trusts - King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust - postponed 1,300 outpatient appointments and 205 elective procedures as a result.

It comes as doctors' surgeries in London have also warned about the ongoing impact of the cyber attack, with blood testing remaining at a fraction of its former capacity.

In a joint statement, Julie Lowe, deputy chief executive at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Simon Steddon, chief medical officer at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are having to postpone a number of operations and appointments at present, and we would like to apologise again to those patients affected.

“Staff are continuing to do an excellent job in very challenging circumstances, for which they deserve enormous credit.”

The BBC reported last week that a gang of criminals behind the cyber attack had published stolen sensitive patient data in an attempt to extort money from Synnovis.