NHS urges patients to attend appointments as Microsoft outage continues

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 13 Nov, 14:32 · Archive

The NHS is asking patients to continue attending scheduled appointments despite a major Microsoft outage affecting services across the UK.

A global Microsoft outage affecting Outlook, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint has caused significant disruption to NHS services on Friday 13 November. The health service said staff are working to keep critical services and appointments running despite the widespread disruption.

The NHS urged patients to continue attending their scheduled appointments unless specifically told otherwise. For immediate medical help, the health service reminded the public to use NHS 111 or call 999 in an emergency. Emergency 999 phone lines and life-saving care remain fully operational. Most hospital procedures and outpatient clinics are proceeding using paper records and backup systems.

However, disrupted digital calendars have forced the rescheduling of a small number of non-urgent appointments and planned procedures. Many GP surgeries have struggled to access online consultation tools and some have been locked out of patient record systems because email-based security checks are failing. The National Pharmacy Association warned of longer prescription waiting times because pharmacies cannot easily email GP practices, with some falling back on paper prescriptions.

How it is being reported

• Services across Devon hit as Microsoft outage continuesPatients and residents across Devon are being urged to phone, not email, if their query is urgent, after a Microsoft outage left councils, hospitals and GP surgeries without emailNorth Devon Gazette · 13 Nov, 13:56
• NHS 'use 111' and Friday appointments update amid Microsoft outageThe health service took to social media Friday morning to share a new update on the situationDevonLive · 13 Nov, 12:00

In this story: NHS · Microsoft · Devon · UK · National Pharmacy Association

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