Critical incident declared as cyber attack affects major London hospitals

The London healthcare provider, Synnovis, suffered a ransomware attack affecting all IT systems and disrupting pathology services. Major hospitals, including Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital, declared a critical incident, with operations cancelled and patients diverted to other providers. The attack impacted services, most notably blood transfusions, leading to the last-minute cancellation of procedures. Synnovis, which also provides services to GP surgeries, is working with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre to investigate the breach.