• Question: Did the recent cyber attack have an impact on your job?

    Asked by Emma to Chris, Emma, Jonathan, Katharine, Shehla, Simon on 16 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Jonathan Harte

      Jonathan Harte answered on 16 Jun 2017:


      Hi, yes it did, our computer systems were closed down as a precaution against attack after news of the cyber attack came out. We had to revert to pen and paper and see patients without access to their medical records for 4 working days before we were allowed to turn the system back on again.

      It was an interesting time, took me back to when I started in medicine – in some ways simpler, but mostly harder as without their records it was more difficult to treat my patients and review their medical conditions and treatment.

      It also highlighted how little some patients know about the conditions and especially the treatment they’re on – when asked lots of patients replied “I’m on the little white pills doc, you know”….

    • Photo: Shehla Imtiaz-Umer

      Shehla Imtiaz-Umer answered on 16 Jun 2017:


      Thankfully not at the hospital in Derby.

    • Photo: Emma Rowe

      Emma Rowe answered on 16 Jun 2017:


      Oh yes! I was in the middle of seeing a patient when suddenly the computer just shut down. IT turned off all our computers to protect them. So it was a case of bringing the old pen and paper out which isn’t too bad. The difficulty is that you have no idea who is coming to see you that day and what for so you just have to do your best.

    • Photo: Katharine Bradbury

      Katharine Bradbury answered on 16 Jun 2017:


      We had no computer access for a couple of days and had to revert to handwritten notes and prescriptions. Our patients were very understanding but it made me realise how much we rely on computers to do our job.

    • Photo: Christopher Symonds

      Christopher Symonds answered on 19 Jun 2017:


      Our Practice was very lucky as we did not get hit directly and was one of the first practices to be patched on the Monday morning. The only impact was that some other organisation’s services were not available for a couple of days.

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