170 patients harmed as a result of cyber attack

Around 170 patients have suffered harm as a result of a cyber attack on blood services at London hospitals and GP surgeries, reports suggest.

Pathology services provider Synnovis was the victim of a ransomware attack by a Russian cyber gang in June last year.

As a result more than 10,000 appointments were cancelled at the two London NHS trusts that were worst affected.

And a significant number of GP practices in London were unable to order blood tests for their patients.

Now the Health Service Journal (HSJ) has reported that there were nearly 600 “incidents” linked to the attack, with patient care suffering in 170 of these.

This includes one cases of “severe” harm, 14 which led to “moderate” harm with the rest identified as “low harm”.

According to NHS guidance severe harm occurs when patients either suffers permanent harm; needs life saving care or could have reduced their life expectancy, among a number of other factors.