Doctors and nurses across four of the region’s major hospitals say they are ‘losing patients in hospitals’ as a huge IT failure tips over into more than a week of chaos. ‘Waiting times are rising’, staff are doing ‘longer shifts’, and staff are ‘unable to track their patients as they move through the hospitals’ because the electronic systems continue to crash.
‘The situation remains unchanged’ after seven days, as IT system problems have brought even the most basic tasks to a crawling pace, according to multiple staff members across the four Greater Manchester hospitals affected.
Three of the hospitals involved - the Royal Oldham, Fairfield General , and Rochdale Infirmary , - have declared critical incidents this week. North Manchester General has declared a business continuity incident.
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The IT failures have ‘affected every part’ of hospital life, say concerned staff and are causing 'severe delays' to patient care. Several hospital sources tell the Manchester Evening News that systems used to access blood test, X-ray, MRI and CT scan results are not functioning correctly, meaning clinicians are unable to share the information with patients who could have 'life-threatening' illnesses.
The IT issues are causing delays with electronic prescribing and getting hold of patients' medical records. With 'no access to previous clinic letters on computers', patients are 'having to give their own histories', say staff. Appointments and surgeries are also being postponed as a result of the difficulties and delays.
The strain on patients and staff comes despite continuity plans which have moved wards from an online setup to a paper system. The paper system is functional and is 'working', according to one senior hospital source, staff admit that typically fast tasks are now taking much longer as 'everything has to be handwritten'.
Without a digital record, doctors have told the M.E.N. they are ‘losing patients’ who have been admitted to hospital as they move from ward to ward. This could result in ‘missed deterioration’, they fear.
Have you been affected by the IT chaos? Call the M.E.N. newsdesk on 0161 211 2920 or email helena.vesty@reachplc.com
It is not known how many patients are being affected by the problems, however one staff member said the scale of the IT issues mean patient care will be delayed for ‘thousands’.
“[There are] long delays waiting for blood tests - up to 10 hours. CT reports taking a while,” claims the staff member at an affected hospital, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“Staff doing longer hours. Waiting times are going higher.
“We’re working off spreadsheets. Specialists don’t know where their patients have gone. Bed managers don’t know what beds are required."
Another NHS worker is concerned that mistakes made during the upheaval ‘may not come to light until’ systems are back up and running.
“The situation remains unchanged, more of the same,” says the second staff member. “Probably some of the mistakes may not come to light until systems are working again.
"Clinical staff across the Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital, and Rochdale Infirmary are unable to access X-rays or other scans without going to the radiology department. [It’s] similar for blood results.
“Ward patients have paper notes so actually advantageous in this situation as it’s one of the few things working. Outpatient appointments rely on previous clinic letters/referral letters so much harder to work effectively.
“Clinics are very hard to manage and keep to time. There’s no access to previous clinic letters on computers.
“We are unable to track patients across wards so are at risk of losing them. Patients missed means no clinical reviews, no tests ordered or reviewed, no progress towards discharge, potential missed deterioration, and so on.
The sweeping IT system failure has been causing disruption since Wednesday, May 18. The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) - which operates Fairfield General, the Royal Oldham and Rochdale Infirmary - has declared critical incidents at all three of its hospitals but is still asking patients to come to hospital if they need to, and keep their appointments unless they are contacted to say otherwise.
Before its formal debut last year, the NCA was preceded by Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which also ran North Manchester General. North Manchester’s current IT issues are understood to be due to its remaining connection to Pennine Acute systems.
In a new update this evening, Dr Chris Brookes, Deputy CEO and Chief Medical Officer for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust said:
“Our Digital IT team and suppliers have made some positive progress overnight in diagnosing and resolving the IT problems currently affecting a number of our systems across Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and North Manchester General Hospital sites, however critical systems will only be rolled out after they have been tested and declared fit to use.
“We are still at critical incident status and using our business continuity plans and paper process to maintain essential services and patient care. This is having an operational impact on our services meaning slower and delayed services, and impact on patient flow in and out of our hospitals, patient safety is our priority.
“Where a patient has their surgery cancelled it will be rebooked as soon as possible. I’d like to apologise to anyone affected, and their families, for the inconvenience, especially anyone who has had surgery cancelled at short notice. Patients who have a hospital appointment whether for planned surgery or as an outpatient should continue to attend unless they are contacted directly by the Trust and told otherwise.
“Our Emergency Departments remain particularly busy at the moment. We ask that you carefully consider if you really need A&E and your condition is an emergency and life threatening. Please contact 111 or seek advice from your local pharmacy or GP.”
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