A staff member told the ECHO: “The damage is huge”
A “major incident” has been declared at Arrowe Park Hospital this evening for “cyber security reasons”. The Wirral hospital has told people to only attend the emergency department if they have a genuine emergency, stating that business continuity processes are in place and its focus remains on maintaining patient safety.
An email, seen by the ECHO and sent to staff members on Monday evening, said: “A major incident has been declared at the Trust due to a cyber incident and we are working to downtime processes.”
One patient said that a message was announced on the hospital’s overhead speakers which said they are declaring a major incident and non-emergencies should consider going home and coming back tomorrow.
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A staff member at the hospital told the ECHO: “Everything is down. Everything is done electronically so there’s no access to records, results or anything so we are having to do everything manually, which is really difficult. The damage is huge.”
A Wirral University Teaching Hospital spokesperson said: “A major incident has been declared at the Trust for cyber security reasons. The Trust business continuity processes are in place and our focus remains on maintaining patient safety. However, this issue is likely to result in longer waits in the Emergency Department and assessment areas.
“Please only attend the Emergency Department if you have a genuine emergency. If it’s not an emergency, please visit 111, use a walk-in centre, an urgent treatment centre, a GP or pharmacist.”
