So just when you thought getting an NHS appointment was difficult enough, a two-day computer crash on the NHS servers in Scotland resulted in 709 people missing hospital treatment and having their appointments postponed. NHS UK was not affected.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC) said that the technical fault had hit clinical equipment and administrative systems in 10 hospitals. It was confirmed that 48 people affected were cancer patients requiring treatment and people were forced to have their appointments, such as chemotherapy, delayed. A total of 62 planned inpatient procedures and 599 outpatient appointments were also postponed, causing outrage amongst patients.
How can it be that a technical glitch can result in potentially life-threatening situations across 10 hospitals? Technicians and Microsoft engineers are yet to confirm what caused the meltdown on the Microsoft Active Directory system, however no answer is likely to give patients much comfort, as a lot of patient trust goes into the NHS.
The only thing that can give patients a sigh of relief is that no records or information was lost, and we hope that the NHS can learn from this mistake and prevent future technical faults from occurring.
