GPs use pen and paper after IT systems are shut down as precaution

Many general practices had no access to their IT systems over the weekend because they had been told to shut down their computers as a precaution, rather than because they had been infected by the “ransomware” that paralysed the IT systems of dozens of hospital trusts in England and Scotland.1

NHS Digital and NHS England would not say how many practices in England had been infected by the virus that struck on 12 May or say where they were located. In Scotland, health boards confirmed that a few practices had been hit by the virus, including two in NHS Dumfries and Galloway and two in NHS Grampian.

An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said that the attacks had had only a minor impact on the two practices affected and that no computer that stored clinical information had been compromised. “We are keen from a security point of view not to go into too much detail,” she said.

Emma …