Northern Care Alliance ‘move systems to a stable platform’

IT issues are continuing to occur at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust but systems have been moved to “a stable platform”.

The trust has been experiencing “disruption and instability issues” with some of its IT systems since 18 May 2022 which have affected The Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary and North Manchester General Hospital (which is operated by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust).

In an update, published on 7 June 2022, the trust said: “Our IT colleagues alongside clinical and support staff have been working throughout the IT incident to move systems to a stable platform.

“We have enabled access to core systems last week, with further systems becoming accessible this week and next, as part of a phased controlled release.”

The update also confirmed that the Northern Care Alliance is “confident that the IT failure is not related to any malware or hacking incident” and that “patient records and personal data held remain secure and unaffected”.

Advice to patients with hospital appointments, whether that is planned surgery or outpatients, continues to be to attend unless they are told otherwise by the trust directly.

“Unfortunately, some patients may experience some delays and additional waiting across some of our services, such as outpatient appointments, diagnostic tests or scans,” the trust adds.

“We would like to apologise to any patients, and their families, who have had surgery postponed. This will be rebooked as soon as possible and the patient informed.”