Global IT outage: NHS England warns of ‘ongoing disruption’ to GP care next week | World News

Airline passengers have reported long delays and lost luggage as pharmacies try to clear a backlog of medicine deliveries. The Port of Dover says it is dealing with “hundreds of displaced” airport passengers.

The NHS has warned of “ongoing disruption” to GP services into next week due to the global IT outage, as airline passengers reported long delays and lost luggage over the weekend.

The outage spread worldwide on Friday morning after an update from global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike took many Microsoft Windows PCs offline and displayed a “blue screen of death” on their screens.

The company’s founder confirmed that it was a bug in the update and not a cyberattack, as some had feared.

NHS England reported on Saturday afternoon that systems were “coming back online in most areas” but were “still running slightly slower than normal”.

A spokesperson said: “As practices recover from the loss of IT systems on Friday, there may be continued disruption into next week in some areas, particularly in GP care, as practices work to reschedule appointments.”

There was also significant disruption to pharmacy services on Saturday.

Nick Kaye, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, said systems are “largely back online and medicine deliveries have resumed in many community pharmacies today”.

But he added that Friday’s outage “will have caused backlogs and we expect service to continue to be disrupted this weekend as pharmacies recover”.

“We urge people to be patient when they go to their local pharmacy. Some may still prioritise patients with urgent prescriptions from their GP,” he said.

Experts have warned it may take weeks for systems to be fully restored and on Saturday problems were reported at airports.

Andrew Evans, from Taunton in Somerset, said he had been waiting at Palma de Mallorca airport for more than nine hours and claimed there had been little communication from airline TUI.

His flight to Exeter was scheduled to depart at 02:05 local time (01:05 UK time), but by around 10:30 local time on Saturday morning, passengers had still not boarded.

“Our holiday was completely ruined at the end. It felt like we were abandoned,” said Evans.

“We went to the carousel, but there was nothing. We still don’t have our luggage.”

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Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Bristol to Portugal reported that they had not loaded any checked baggage onto the plane upon arrival at their holiday destination.

On Friday, 167 flights due to depart from UK airports were cancelled, while 171 flights due to land in the UK were scrapped.

TUI said its IT systems remained “unstable” and apologised to passengers. “We understand how disappointing this would have been and realise that many customers were already at the airport waiting for their departure.”

The Port of Dover reported on Saturday morning that there were “hundreds of displaced” airport passengers and urged customers to ensure they had made a reservation before arriving.

It is clear that the port has not been a victim of the global IT outage.

Doug Bannister, head of the Port of Dover, said: “We operate a turn-up-and-go system here. However, we do insist that on busy days you have a book with you, even if people do this en route.

“The greater our visibility, the better.

“But we are here to help people who want to travel. So I would say to displaced airport passengers, ‘Come on. We have the capacity.'”

The National Lottery app and website had fallen on Saturday – although it was unclear whether this was related to the global IT outage.

The travel delays come as thousands of families head off on summer vacation at the end of the school year for many schools.

Indie rock group Bombay Bicycle Club have announced the new date of a music festival performance they were forced to miss due to the global IT outage.

The British group were due to perform at the Poolbar Festival in Feldkirch, Austria on Friday, but missed the show due to a cancelled flight.

The band announced that the performance will now take place on Sunday.