By David Young
Copyright belfastlive
Significant IT issues that forced ambulance diversions and appointment cancellations at hospitals in the Southern Trust area have been resolved. While the trust said systems have been restored, it said most planned surgeries and outpatient appointments would remain cancelled on Thursday. Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry and Craigavon Area Hospital were among the trust facilities affected through Wednesday. The trust said the ambulance divert had ended at Daisy Hill, but would remain in place in Craigavon until later on Wednesday night. In an update statement on Wednesday evening, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust urged people to continue to avoid its emergency departments unless absolutely necessary to enable staff to prioritise critical care. The trust said the cause of the IT issues was still under investigation but there was nothing to indicate a cyber attack. “We can confirm that the IT issues which have caused disruption to our services today have been resolved and all systems have been restored,” the trust statement said. “We will be testing our systems overnight and they will be reconnected in a phased manner tomorrow. “Whilst community services are expected to operate as normal tomorrow, unfortunately, most planned surgeries and out-patient hospital appointments remain cancelled. “Staff have contacted affected patients, and we will reschedule all appointments and surgery as soon as possible. “The ambulance divert has now been stood down for Daisy Hill Hospital, however Craigavon Area Hospital remains under significant pressure, therefore a divert will remain in place until later this evening. “We are hugely grateful for the support of NIAS (Northern Ireland Ambulance Service), other trusts and the wider HSC (Health and Social Care) system who have been supporting us throughout the day. “It will take some time for normal business to be fully restored, and we sincerely apologise once again for the disruption. “We ask that people avoid coming to our emergency departments unless absolutely necessary as we continue to prioritise critical care at this time. “The cause of the outage is still being investigated, however, there is nothing to indicate any cyber-related issues. “We would like to thank our staff who continue to do everything possible to keep every patient and service user safe as we work to recover from this outage.” For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
