Global Microsoft outage disrupts Essex councils, NHS and businesses

Summarised from 4 outlets · 15 reports · Updated 14 Nov, 18:27 · Archive

A global Microsoft outage that began Thursday evening disrupted Outlook email and Teams messaging, affecting NHS services, councils, schools and businesses across Essex.

A global Microsoft outage that began around 6pm GMT on Thursday, November 12, disrupted Outlook email, Teams messaging and other Microsoft 365 services affecting millions of users worldwide. Essex organisations including NHS trusts, councils, police and schools reported significant disruption to their digital communications and online systems.

NHS Essex and East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust, which operates Colchester Hospital, confirmed they were affected. NHS Essex set up a temporary phone line (01245 398748) for health and care providers needing to make referrals or report urgent patient matters. The trust said it was implementing workarounds to ensure patients could continue receiving care, and advised patients to continue attending appointments as normal unless advised otherwise. Michael Watson, executive director of corporate services at NHS Essex, said: 'GPs, hospitals and community providers are introducing workarounds where needed to ensure that patients can still get the help they need.'

Colchester Council and Tendring District Council reported that email systems and online forms were temporarily unavailable, though all council services remained open. Essex Police advised people to call 101 for time-critical non-emergency reports and 999 for emergencies due to potential delays in online form submissions. Essex County Council said email services were affected and experienced increased demand on telephone lines. Other affected organisations included Colchester Zoo, Essex County Cricket Club and Essex and Suffolk Water, though the latter said critical operations continued.

Microsoft reported 'early signs of stabilisation' on Friday as email queues reduced and services approached normal levels. The company said on Friday that the disruption was caused by 'a technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents' that occurred during a network capacity upgrade following a recent network change. By Saturday morning, Microsoft confirmed it had fully restored services for all remaining affected customers and said it would provide a full post-incident report once its review was complete.

How it is being reported

• Microsoft issues important update for all users following global outageMicrosoft has issued an update, telling its customers that it has now fully restored its services after the global outage that started on Thursday this week.Echo (Basildon) · 14 Nov, 18:06
• Microsoft outage disrupts councils, schools and NHS communications across EssexMicrosoft outage disrupts Outlook and Teams across Essex and Tendring, affecting councils, schools and Colchester Hospital as recovery continues.Echo (Basildon) · 13 Nov, 17:00
• Microsoft outage disrupts councils, schools and NHS communications across EssexMicrosoft outage disrupts Outlook and Teams across Essex and Tendring, affecting councils, schools and Colchester Hospital as recovery continues.Colchester Gazette · 13 Nov, 17:00
• Microsoft outage disrupts councils, schools and NHS communications across EssexMicrosoft outage disrupts Outlook and Teams across Essex and Tendring, affecting councils, schools and Colchester Hospital as recovery continues.Brentwood Guardian · 13 Nov, 17:00
• Key Essex services down after Microsoft outage sparks chaosIt is affecting several services across the countyEssexLive · 13 Nov, 11:38
• Global outage 'impacting' NHS services across EssexNHS Essex warns of delays to Outlook and Teams output after a global Microsoft outage on November 13, with providers given a temporary phone line for referrals.Brentwood Guardian · 13 Nov, 11:22
• Global outage 'impacting' NHS services across EssexNHS Essex warns of delays to Outlook and Teams output after a global Microsoft outage on November 13, with providers given a temporary phone line for referrals.Colchester Gazette · 13 Nov, 11:22
• Microsoft Outlook outage disrupts NHS services across south EssexA global Microsoft outage has disrupted NHS services, causing widespread interruption across south Essex.Echo (Basildon) · 13 Nov, 10:52
• Microsoft global outage impacting Essex Police online servicesA global Microsoft outage is disrupting online services, including some used by police.Echo (Basildon) · 13 Nov, 10:13
• Live updates as Essex businesses and residents hit by global outageMicrosoft global outage having impact on Essex businesses and residents Outlook and Copilot having issues Many organisations issuing statementsBrentwood Guardian · 13 Nov, 09:55
• Live updates as Essex businesses and residents hit by global outageMicrosoft is facing global issues with an outage having an impact on Outlook and Copilot, with Essex businesses and residents affected.Colchester Gazette · 13 Nov, 09:55
• Live updates as Essex businesses and residents hit by global outageMicrosoft is facing global issues with an outage having an impact on Outlook and Copilot, with Essex businesses and residents affected.Echo (Basildon) · 13 Nov, 09:55
• Microsoft outage hits Teams and Outlook across UK and EssexMicrosoft outage disrupts Teams, Outlook, Copilot and cloud services across the UK, including Essex. Company says there is no evidence of a cyberattack.Colchester Gazette · 13 Nov, 08:00
• Microsoft outage hits Teams and Outlook across UK and EssexMicrosoft outage disrupts Teams, Outlook, Copilot and cloud services across the UK, including Essex. Company says there is no evidence of a cyberattack.Echo (Basildon) · 13 Nov, 08:00
• Microsoft outage hits Teams and Outlook across UK and EssexMicrosoft outage disrupts Teams, Outlook, Copilot and cloud services across the UK, including Essex. Company says there is no evidence of a cyberattack.Brentwood Guardian · 13 Nov, 08:00

In this story: Microsoft · NHS Essex · East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust · Colchester Council · Tendring District Council · Essex Police · Essex County Council · Essex

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log