Critical incident declared after IT failure hits FOUR hospitals in Greater Manchester

Critical incident declared after IT failure hits FOUR hospitals in Greater Manchester with patients warned to avoid Accident and Emergency departments

  • IT failures at four hospitals in Greater Manchester have led to a critical incident
  • Patient warned to avoid the A&E departments at all four units until IT is restored 
  • Royal Oldham, Fairfield General, North Manchester General and Rochdale Infirmary are affected

An IT failure has led to a critical incident being declared at four hospitals in Greater Manchester, with patients warned to avoid going into their accident and emergency departments.

Hospital chiefs say the public should avoid the A&E units at Royal Oldham, Fairfield General, North Manchester General and Rochdale Infirmary unless their issues are life-threatening.

Concerned staff say the IT shutdowns have affected every part of the hospitals, Manchester Evening News reports.

One of the worst affected units is the Royal Oldham’s A&E, which has suffered a string of IT shutdowns since Wednesday, NHS trust bosses have told the newspaper.

 An IT failure has led to a critical incident being declared at four hospitals in Greater Manchester, with patients warned to avoid going into their accident and emergency departments

One of the worst affected units is the Royal Oldham Hospital's A&E, which has suffered a string of IT shutdowns since Wednesday

One of the worst affected units is the Royal Oldham Hospital’s A&E, which has suffered a string of IT shutdowns since Wednesday

The A&E at Fairfield General Hospital is among the four hospitals affected by IT failures

The A&E at Fairfield General Hospital is among the four hospitals affected by IT failures

A source said: ‘Real problems accessing results is impacting wards, outpatients and operating theatres… [The] inability to reliable see results and the failure of other systems is impacting patient care.’

The announcement comes amid waits of ’11 hours’ being reported by patients at the A&E, while sources have warned that the pressure at the hospital may not relent for at least another ’24 to 48 hours’.

Dr Chris Brookes, Deputy CEO and Chief Medical Officer for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust said: ‘We are still working hard to resolve the significant IT issues that have been affecting some of our digital systems at our hospitals at Oldham, Bury and Rochdale, as well as North Manchester General Hospital which is run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Salford Royal is unaffected.

A critical incident has also been declared at Rochdale General Infirmary (pictured)

A critical incident has also been declared at Rochdale General Infirmary (pictured)

North Manchester General Hospital is also one of the institutions that has been affected

North Manchester General Hospital is also one of the institutions that has been affected 

‘This means that our clinical teams are continuing to rely on our robust contingency plans for such critical incidents. Patient safety and maintaining essential services remains our priority.

‘We are doing everything we can to fix the IT issues and to limit disruption to patients and our services. 

‘However, unfortunately some patients may experience some delays and additional waiting across some of our services such as outpatient appointments, diagnostic tests or scans. We apologise for this.’