London pathology services provider Synnovis has recently issued a further update on its efforts to recover and restore services following the cyberattack at the start of June.
“Almost all Synnovis IT systems were affected by this criminal attack, impacting everything from our analysers’ ability to identify and process incoming samples, through to the actual transmission of test results. Many of these processes have had to revert to paper and manual, rather than electronic, protocols which has significantly affected capacity and delivery timeframes.
“Our phased approach to restoring our technical infrastructure, prioritising by clinical criticality, continues. To date, this has included the delivery of new middleware (software that simplifies the reporting and transmission of results from our laboratory information management systems) at both Guy’s and St Thomas’, and King’s College Hospitals which has increased our processing capacity at each. New ways of working and new middleware have also increased the volumes able to be processed at our Blackfriars hub laboratory, meaning the processing of some inpatient work from St Thomas’ Hospital and King's College Hospitals will transfer into the hub from this week.
“Full restoration of systems will take some time however, and we are working closely with our NHS partners and suppliers to deliver each phase in a safe and secure manner.
“Recent progress includes the roll out of Mutual Aid across all six south east London boroughs, in conjunction with our NHS Trust Partners and the Integrated Care Board (ICB), which has increased the capacity available for the most critical and urgent blood tests from GPs. Capacity has also been delivered via the wider SYNLAB UK&I network, with more laboratories readying to take on capacity from this week.
“Every available resource is focused on delivering the interim solutions required to contain impact while continuing to deliver clinically safe services and rebuilding service capacity. This has included SYNLAB diverting clinical and IT colleagues from across its wider UK laboratory network, well as from 12 other countries within their global operations. NHS colleagues are also providing hands on support.”
Mark Dollar, CEO of Synnovis commented: “We are very aware of the impact and upset this incident is causing to patients, service users and frontline NHS colleagues, and for that I am truly sorry. While progress has been made, there is much yet to do, both on the forensic IT investigation and the technical recovery. We are working as fast as we can and will keep our service users, employees and partners updated.”