GPs in Wales were forced ‘to work off bits of paper’ today, as a ‘technical issue’ meant they could not access patient records.
The Welsh Government told Pulse that the NHS Wales Informatics Service was working to solve the problem ‘affecting two NHS Wales data centres’ as ‘a priority’ during the afternoon.
A spokesperson added just after 5pm: ‘The NHS Wales Informatics Service have confirmed that all systems are now back although there may be a backlog affecting some areas. They have assured us that there were no data security issues.
‘The cause of the technical issue that affected two NHS Wales Data Centres remains under investigation.’
BMA Wales GP Committee chair Dr Charlotte Jones said the problem meant GP practices using the EMIS platform were unable to access patient records at all. Practices using the Vision system were able to continue working when the fault occurred if they were already logged in.
She reported that systems were affected across primary and secondary care.
Dr Jones said: ‘They don’t know what’s causing it but it’s a technical issue and we will know more in due course.’
RCGP Wales chair Dr Rebecca Payne confirmed reports that the Vision system was ‘working slowly’.
She added that GPs using EMIS were ‘having a total nightmare’, being ‘forced to work off bits of paper’.
