An IT crash which saw GP practices and walk-in centres thrown into chaos has now been resolved.
NHS facilities across Greater Manchester were brought to a standstill for hours today (March 29) as a technical fault has caused IT systems to crash and phone lines to go down.
Many of the approximate 600 GP practices across the boroughs of Greater Manchester were understood to be affected, along with multiple walk-in centres and overarching services run by the region's NHS - all of which run on the same system. Patients had appointments cancelled and postponed, while staff attempted to keep urgent appointments by working on their personal devices.
READ MORE: NHS IT system crash: Walk-in centres and GPs at standstill with patients' appointments cancelled
In England, the number of patients per doctor (trainee and fully-qualified) at GP practices was 1,700 in October 2022, according to the Office of National Statistics, making it likely that thousands of people will have been affected by the crash. NHS staff at the GP practices and walk-in centres affected say they are now attempting to catch up with the backlog from the hours spent offline, facing a slew of online requests and not knowing how many phone calls they have missed.
One NHS source said that many staff at one practice are working from their mobile phones as 'all work devices are not connecting'. Some appointments are being cancelled and postponed, with one Greater Manchester NHS source, whom the M.E.N. is not identifying, saying earlier today: "We have managed to access some business continuity access so can find some patient records but struggling to book more appoints, do referrals or anything else really.
"Normally we would send patients to the walk-in [centre], but they have the same issues. We are managing as much as we can do, if it's urgent we’re just advising patients to come in."
The IT issues are now fixed, but patients have been warned that practices may be seeing a higher volume of calls as they return to regular service - but builds on an already backlogged system in extremely high demand. Hospitals were understood to not be affected as they operate on a different system.
"The IT issues affecting some GP practices and phone lines in Greater Manchester has now been resolved," said a spokesperson for NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care.
"If your query is urgent please contact your GP practice as normal however they may be experiencing a high volume of calls. NHS111 can also be contacted if your require medical help or advice. In emergencies, please dial 999."
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