NHS England’s IT systems were switched back on following a major problem last Friday. However, there might still be delays with appointments and especially doctor appointments. Here’s what you need to know about the issue and how it is affecting people.

The Problem:

Last Friday, a major glitch rocked IT systems around the world. The NHS in England has confirmed that its computer systems are back up and running following the global outage; however, there might still be some hiccups—particularly surrounding the scheduling of new appointments with doctors. This is because the NHS is still catching up with work that fell behind.

It began with a security update by a company called CrowdStrike. The update was to protect computers against cyber attacks but crashed many computers. The problems reached over eight million computers all over the world, causing several issues—transport and health services were some areas affected.

What Happened:

The CrowdStrike update was actually designed for keeping Microsoft Windows computers safe. Still, it managed to make them stop working properly. According to CrowdStrike’s chief executive, George Kurtz, the problem had already been fixed on Friday. However, it may take some time for everything to get back on track again.

The NHS has requested all patients to attend their appointments as usual unless informed otherwise. They said that staff have been doing every bit to rectify the things but there can be some delays. This has more effect on GP services as they need to rebook many appointments that were missed.

Impact on GPs and Patient Services:

As a result of this IT outage, doctors are finding it very hard to maintain their schedules and patient records. Most GPs use a system called EMIS to mark appointments and prescription lists. Without the system, doctors returned to old-fashioned methods—pen and paper—to help their patients to the best abilities. In that respect, it was one of the most troublesome days for GPs in a long while.

The doctors’ representative body, the British Medical Association, said GPs have been working hard to deal with the mess caused by the outage, doing their best to catch up on all the lost work. More time is needed to sort everything, however.

Other Sectors Affected:

This impact did not stop at health services but extended to other areas too. For instance, many flights were cancelled or delayed. On Sunday, 190 flights bound to and from the UK were called off. Some of those cancellations were due to an IT outage, while others were due to bad weather.

The largest holiday group in Europe, TUI, stated that they were still suffering from the problems caused by the IT glitch. Yesterday, they had already canceled 11 flights from the UK and planned to cancel five today. Apologies were issued to travelers for the ongoing delays.

The NHS IT systems are now back online, and recovery will take some time. All patients must keep appointments unless otherwise notified. GPs are working as hard as possible to catch up with all the missed appointments and other tasks. The outage also hit other sectors a little, such as airlines.

Action to be Taken:

If you have a routine appointment with your GP this week please attend as planned, unless you are contacted and told otherwise. Please be patient if you have to wait – it just may take a bit longer than usual to get back to business as usual.