computer systems on two of Londonthe biggest hospitals shut down due to the extreme temperatures caused by the recent heat wave, bosses have said.
IT services were wiped out at Boy‘s and St. Thomas’ hospitals as temperatures soared above 40°C on Tuesday, July 19 during a record-breaking heat wave.
Chief operating officer John Findlay said it was “the most complex” incident at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust “in a very, very long time”.
He also warned it would take a long time to recover both hospitals, the BBC reported.
In an internal Zoom conversation with staff, he said the trust had to switch to paper, which “delayed everything phenomenally”.
“While it sounds obvious to move to a paper hospital, that’s far from the case if you’re having problems for an extended period of time,” he said.
“It slowed everything down phenomenally. It meant people had to work incredibly hard.”
He added: “That whole manual process of moving scraps of paper through the organization, recording the interactions with patients, just fundamentally knowing what’s going on and what’s happened is clearly a huge challenge.
“The longer it takes, the greater that challenge. I absolutely recognize the importance of this and the impact it has had on people.”
The systems have since been repaired, but there are still some issues that could continue into next week, CEO Ian Abbs said.
“The past week has been extremely difficult for everyone at Guy’s and St Thomas’,” explained Mr Abbs.
“The first thing is that I sincerely and unconditionally apologize for what happened. This is not what we expect or want to ever happen.
“This is one of the most serious incidents we have ever had to deal with, certainly in my long memory at Guy’s and St Thomas’.”
On Thursday, Chief Executive Professor Ian Abbs issued another apology on the Foundation Trust’s website: “My executive colleagues and I would like to extend our sincere apologies to all those affected by the extremely serious IT issues we have experienced. .
“That apology is to our patients, their families and our local communities for the impact this incident may have had on their care; and also to our colleagues, for the significant impact this has had on their ability to deliver the high-quality care we always strive for.”
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust have been contacted for comment.