IT outage hit healthcare services

A number of health services including hospitals and GP surgeries have been affected by the global IT failure

A global IT outage has affected hospitals and GP surgeries across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) said it had experienced "difficulties with some of our diagnostic reporting and roster systems".

A GP practice in East Yorkshire reported on social media it was "unable to function as normal".

IT outages were reported across the world, affecting airlines, media and banks, with cyber-security firm Crowdstrike admitting the problem had been caused by an update to its software, designed to prevent Microsoft Windows devices from being hacked.

Some businesses in Lincolnshire also had difficulties with card payments, including Pennells Garden Centre in North Hykeham and some Co-op food stores.

However, Simon Reeve, head of IT and Digital at Lincolnshire Co-op, said the problem meant it could only accept cash payments but everything else was running normally.

Lincoln City FC's ticketing system was also affected.

Naomi Wileman, from Hull, had to rebook her flight to the US due to the disruption

The NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (LICB) said plans were put in place for The Glebe Practice, in Saxilby, and the Long Sutton Medical Centre as both practices "use a system called EMIS", which had been affected.

Rebecca Neno, deputy director of system delivery at the LICB, said: "We are aware of some disruption to NHS services locally - affecting our local hospitals, community services, and primary care - as a result of the global IT outage, but we are managing this."

She warned of "some delays but patients should continue to attend appointments unless told otherwise".

"Please remember to use NHS services sensibly and appropriately, and to be kind to all of our staff whether that’s in your GP practice, your local pharmacy or in hospital," she added.

Pocklington Group Practice, in East Yorkshire, was aiming to update patients because it was not able to function normally.

Posting on social media, it said the outage "may result in appointments needing to be cancelled and rearranged".

UHLT said its diagnostic reporting and roster systems were back up and running several hours later.

"Patients are advised to attend any appointments as normal,” a spokesperson said.

Pocklington Group Practice was one of many GP surgeries affected

• What we know about global IT outage

• How a single update caused global havoc

• What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

• GPs, pharmacies and airports hit by outage

• Warning IT problems could take days to fix

Humberside Airport reported it was "functioning normally" but the 0950 flight from Amsterdam had been delayed because of the outage.

However, one traveller flying to Salt Lake City via Amsterdam said she ended up going back home having been "stuck at the airport" due to the disruption.

Naomi Wileman, 28, a teaching assistant from Hull, said she was due to visit friends and family during her six-week trip.

"This is the first time I'm going to America. I thought it would be plain sailing but it's not been like that."

She said she had since booked on to another flight departing in the morning.

Train operator Hull Trains warned of issues affecting "customer information screens at some stations, ticket vending machines and some ticket office facilities".

Microsoft said it was taking "mitigation action" to deal with "the lingering impact" of the outage.

Follow BBC Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]