GP practices continue to face disruption following a major cyber attack on a pathology lab over two months ago.
The latest NHS update has revealed that GP practices in three out of six south east London boroughs are yet to return to usual blood testing services.
At the start of June, Synnovis, a provider of lab services for a group of London hospitals, was the ‘victim of a ransomware cyber attack’ which disrupted its pathology services.
The perpetrators then published data which they claimed belonged to NHS patients, Synnovis later confirmed that ‘some fragments of patient identifiable data’ were posted online.
Synnovis confirmed to Pulse that its investigation into the full scale of the data released and the patient impact is still ongoing, and that at this stage ‘it is too soon’ to ascertain the ‘exact nature of the information’.
Pulse reported in June that a majority of GP-requested pathology tests were being postponed until further notice, and as a result GPs were facing backlogs and issues with QOF achievement down the line.
Now, NHS England has confirmed that GP practices in Bexley, Lewisham and Greenwich are able to use full Synnovis testing services, which are operating at ‘pre-cyberattack levels’.
However, GPs in Bromley, Lambeth and Southwark still face disruption, with ‘repatriation’ to Synnovis services expected ‘in the coming weeks’.
Synnovis told Pulse that it is ‘working to a phased schedule for repatriation’ of NHS services.
Bromley’s GP Alliance informed patients this week that there are still ‘no routine blood tests available’.
In a post on X, the alliance said: ‘We would like to remind our patients that there are no routine blood tests available at this time.
‘We are only treating urgent/priority patients at this time. We hope that normal operations return as soon as possible.’
NHS England’s latest update, published yesterday, said that so far almost 1,700 elective procedures and over 10,000 outpatient appointments have been postponed at two London hospitals since the attack on 3 June.
On GP services, it said: ‘Synnovis has confirmed that they have successfully rebuilt their core IT systems. As a result, testing services for GP practices in Bexley, Lewisham and Greenwich returned to Synnovis on Thursday 15 August.
‘This “repatriation” has gone well so far, with services operating at pre-cyberattack levels and no significant issues reported.
‘Testing services for the remaining three south east London boroughs, Bromley, Lambeth and Southwark, will repatriate to Synnovis in the coming weeks.’
Last month, Pulse reported on an ongoing fault with an acute trust’s new pathology system which left GPs with ‘significant’ workload issues and ‘anxiety’ for patient safety.
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