EMIS NHS systems down: Brits face MORE chaos when trying to pick up prescriptions this weekend, pharmacists warn

GPs and pharmacies said the disruption caused by the global IT outage will continue through the weekend, amid warnings of travel delays following flight cancellations.

A flawed update released by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike knocked many offline across the world on Friday, causing flight and train cancellations and paralyzing some healthcare systems.

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A fix was deployed for a bug in the update, which affected Microsoft Windows PCs, on Friday, as CrowdStrike’s chief executive said it would take “some time” for systems to be fully restored.

The outage caused disruption to “the majority of GP practices” on Friday, NHS England said, and ambulance services also reported increased pressure on 999 and NHS 111 services.

Across England, GP practices reported being unable to book appointments or access patient records when the EMIS Web system went down.

Fari Ahmad said the IT system outage meant “everything went wrong” with his surgery and that the outage would cause “a lot more problems later in the week”.

The GP told BBC Breakfast: “We had people who were supposed to come in for results and we couldn’t see them.

“We said ‘Sorry, we can’t help you.’ We were just trying to deal with the day’s emergencies that really couldn’t wait.

“We couldn’t do our routine things, so the implications for us are that a lot of this has increased.”

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said patients collecting prescriptions could still face disruptions this weekend.

Nick Kaye, chair of the NPA, which represents independent community pharmacies in the UK, said: “Systems are generally back online and medicine deliveries have resumed in many community pharmacies today following the global IT outage.

“However, yesterday’s disruption will have caused delays and we expect services to continue to be disrupted this weekend as pharmacies recover.”

CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz apologized, saying he is “deeply sorry” and made clear it was “not a security or cyber incident.”

In a technical statement, CrowdStrike said a “sensor configuration” “triggered a logic error” that the company said has been fixed.

Airports across the UK, including London Gatwick, Heathrow Airport, Manchester Airport and Belfast International Airport, said passengers should check with their airlines for delays or cancellations before traveling over the weekend.

Some 207 flights, equating to 6.7% of all scheduled UK departures, were grounded on Friday, with others delayed, while 201 flights due to land in the UK were cancelled.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium said 6,855 flights, or 6.2% of all scheduled flights, were canceled globally on Friday.

It added that 1,639 flights had been canceled globally as of 10am on Saturday, including 23 flights departing from UK airports, equating to 0.9 per cent of all scheduled departures from the UK, as well as 25 arrivals into the UK.

On Saturday, the Port of Dover said it was dealing with “hundreds of displaced passengers” at the airport and asked customers to ensure they had a booking before arrival.

Professor Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the National Cyber ​​Security Center (NCSC), said “the worst” of the disruption is over, but countries “will have to learn to deal” with future failures.

Accredited security professional James Bore said there would be “lingering effects” of the outage.

Bore told Sky News: “If you only have one IT person in the company and 2,000 employees, this is not going to be solved overnight.

“It’s going to be weeks of work for that person who’s just traveling or getting everyone to come in and pack up their laptops.”

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