GPs warn of patient safety risks amid ongoing IT outage in one area

An LMC has said ongoing GP IT outages are ‘a risk to patient safety’ with ‘every single surgery affected’ in its area. 

GP practices in the South East of England have this week reported network issues preventing them from accessing clinical systems. 

Kent LMC medical director Dr Jack Jacobs told Pulse this is the latest in a series of outages starting in January that the LMC has ‘repeatedly escalated’ to commissioners, and that has affected GP clinical and administrative systems in the area. 

Pulse understands that an issue affecting GP practice firewalls is preventing GP practice computers from connecting to networks, and that this was first identified last Thursday (16 April). 

Dr Jacobs said the ‘deeply frustrating’ situation was ‘adding to the uncertainty and pressure on already stretched teams’. 

He told Pulse: ‘GP practices across Kent and Medway are continuing to face significant disruption due to ongoing IT outages, first identified on 19 January and repeatedly escalated by practices and the Kent LMC to Kent and Medway ICB and NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Clinical Support Unit (SCW CSU), who provide the IT systems. 

‘The situation is deeply frustrating, with intermittent and unpredictable failures occurring daily across multiple practices, lasting from minutes to, in some cases, almost a full working day. The issue is widespread, with every single surgery affected at some point, and has increased in frequency in recent weeks.’

He said that ‘at times’ the outages have ‘ affected all clinical and administrative systems, including access to patient records, appointment booking, prescription processing, clinical correspondence and even basic system login’.

‘When this occurs, practices are unable to function normally, leading to disruption to patient care and experience, alongside significant additional workload and stress for GP teams managing the resulting backlogs.’

He added: ‘GPs and staff are now starting each day not knowing whether their systems will work, adding to the uncertainty and pressure on already stretched teams. 

‘These IT failures are outside the control of general practice, as systems are provided and managed by external suppliers commissioned by the ICB. The ICB has increased its level of scrutiny, and it is understood that the CSU has identified the underlying technical problems and is working to implement fixes. 

‘We are concerned this level of disruption inevitably creates a risk to patient safety. Practices have remained open, but it has been very difficult to provide the expected level of care when core IT systems are not working.’ 

In January, Kent & Medway ICB reported that the ‘majority’ of GP practices were unable to access patient records, appointment systems and telephone systems because of a ‘connectivity performance problem within a datacentre’. 

A spokesperson for NHS Kent and Medway said: ‘GP practices are open as normal but some are experiencing difficulty in connecting to the internet. This is due to an issue not just impacting Kent and Medway and is being urgently investigated by NHS SCW CSU (which provide GP IT services in Kent and Medway). 

‘Please bear with practice staff who are doing their best to support patients during this time. We are sorry for the inconvenience this is causing.’ 

NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit was unable to provide a timeline for when the current outage is likely to end.

A spokesperson told Pulse: ‘Some GP practices in the South East are currently experiencing intermittent network issues. We are working closely with our suppliers to test and implement a solution. All networks and data remain secure. Technical workarounds and business continuity plans are being enacted to maintain secure access to systems and files for practice staff.’