Ransomware attack update: Cancellations and 'significant' delays at Portlaoise and other hospitals

The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group has issued an update and more information for patients on how Portlaoise and its sister hospitals are coping with the criminal ransomware attack on HSE and the wider health system. 

The DMHG says its priority is keeping patients safe and maintaining essential care and support services.

"The shutdown of our systems is having an impact on some health services and this disruption is very likely to go well into this week. Hospitals are working very hard to continue with appointments scheduled this week. However, there is some service disruption expected," said a statement issued Monday evening on May 17.

The DMHG says all patients should attend their appointments as scheduled unless they hear otherwise from the hospital where the appointment is scheduled. Patients can expect some delays due to the ongoing issue.

"We ask patients who are attending appointments this week to bring previous appointments letters or patient numbers if available. We ask that you bear with us and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

"We would ask that patients who do have scheduled appointment for next week pay attention to updates on services as hospitals may not be able to access information in order to call and cancel appointments," said a statement.

Emergency services remain open across Dublin, Laois, Offaly and Kildare but remain extremely busy.

"We ask that patients consider their care options and only attend the ED in an emergency. Non-urgent patients may expect long delays," it said.

Current available information on Hospital Disruptions:

Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise: Emergency services continue. The emergency department is very busy and reporting significant delays for patients requiring non-urgent care. Outpatient radiology appointments are cancelled. Some elective inpatient procedures have been cancelled. Patients are being contacted by the hospital. The HSE asks that patients who are attending our hospital bring with them their most recent hospital letter. Patients attending for antenatal or maternity should also bring their combined antenatal card or patient number. You can contact the hospital at 057 8696771 or 057 8696340 if you have any query. 

Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore: Routine OPD radiology (plain X-rays, ultrasound, MRI, CT) are cancelled. Vascular outpatients (Doppler tests) are cancelled. Cardiac Investigations (stress/echo tests) are cancelled. Elective inpatient & daycase procedures are continuing.  If you are attending for an appointment, bring your most recent hospital letter. Our emergency department is very busy and reporting significant delays for patients requiring non-urgent care.

Naas General Hospital: All routine outpatient radiology and Phlebotomy (blood tests) appointments are cancelled until further notice. The hospital cannot make contact with these patients directly. If you have an appointment, please do not attend. We regret any inconvenience and appointments will be rescheduled asap. The emergency department is very busy and reporting delays for patients requiring non-urgent care. For any queries please phone 045 849910 between 8.30am - 5pm.

Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital: Services and outpatient appointments are due to run as scheduled but the hospital apologises in advance for any delays you may experience. 

St Lukes Radiation Oncology Network: All outpatients appointments and all non-emergency Radiation Treatment have been cancelled until further notice, across St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network sites: St. Luke's Hospital Rathgar; St. Luke's Centre at Beaumont Hospital; St. Luke's Centre at St. James's Hospital. The network has initiated a plan to treat all urgent radiation patients in the private sector which commenced on Friday and is continuing. To reassure patients routine radiation treatments can be temporarily interrupted safely without negatively impacting on their outcome. Patients will be contacted directly by our staff about their appointments.  If you feel unwell or symptomatic please contact your usual St. Luke's Centre directly, the team are available to take your call. The hospital says it is doing everything possible to get our systems ready to treat patients with radiation again next week. If you have any queries please call 01-4065000.

Tallaght University Hospital: Please only attend the ED if you require urgent care. Our emergency department is very busy and reporting significant delays for patients requiring non-urgent care. All routine Radiology outpatient appointments cancelled. We ask that patients who are attending our hospital to bring with them their most recent hospital letter.

St James’s Hospital: The Hospital are advising all patients to attend their scheduled appointments as normal. If necessary, any updates will be posted on their twitter and website; stjames.ie.

The HSE says IT systems across the health service have been temporarily shut down for security reasons, and the HSE is working with the National Cyber Security Centre, and with national and international experts including McAfee, to rectify this issue.

See update from HSE: https://www.hse.ie/eng/ services/news/media/pressrel/ hse-cyber-security-incident. html

Updates on service disruption will be posted on the HSE Service Disruption Website https://www2.hse.ie/ services/hospital-service- disruptions/hospital-service- disruptions-covid19.html

Updates will also be posted on Hospital via Twitter @DMHospitalGroup @HSELive and individual hospitals who might have their own social media accounts and websites. We encourage all patients to check on these sites for up-to-date service disruption and cancellations for DMHG hospitals.

The DMHG says all hospitals regret any inconvenience and appointments will be rescheduled a soon as possible.