As the effects of Friday’s global IT outage persist, NHS patients are being warned that GP services “cannot be immediately resumed” and stranded tourists told it could take them “days” before they reach their destination.
CrowdStrike – the cybersecurity firm at the center of the crisis – announced on Sunday that a fix had been deployed for the “defect”, which was causing chaos for businesses using Microsoft operating systems around the globe.
The British Medical Association (BMA), however, said that the outage had caused a backlog in crucial services including the NHS. This will take some time to clear.
“Friday was the most difficult day in recent memory for General Practitioners throughout England,” said David Wrigley. He is the deputy chairman of GPC England. GPC England is the BMA’s representative body for general practitioners.
“Many were forced to use pen and paper in order to provide care to their patients without a clinical IT systems.
“While GPs worked hard to care for as many patients as possible, they were unable to do so because they did not have the necessary information. Much of their work had to be shifted to the next week.”
Wrigley stated that the temporary loss by GPs of the Emis Patient Record System had resulted in a “considerable backlog”.
He said: “Even though we could guarantee that it would be fixed in full on Monday, the GPs still needed time to catch up with lost work from over the weekend. NHS England should also make sure to inform patients of this delay.
The outage could mean that hospitals and clinics contacted by callers for non-life-threatening urgent health issues would not receive the information that was given to the call handlers.
Computer systems that were affected by the CrowdStrike issue, which was triggered by an update to software on Friday, are now largely back to normal.
The global air travel network continues to be affected by the impact of the summer holiday flights.
Some passengers who were stranded on the planes were told that it would take them “days” before they reached their destination, and there might not be any accommodation available in the interim as hotels will be busy during summer holidays.
Wizz Air, a low-cost airline with no frills, said that its systems are up and running. However it warned that the flight schedules will take “sometime to return to normal”.
Customers can rebook their flights or request refunds through their online accounts.
It acknowledged that it may not be able find suitable accommodation for stranded travelers, but promised to reimburse customers who could find an alternative “within reasonable amounts”. It didn’t specify what it considered to be reasonable.
TUI, the travel firm, announced that it cancelled 11 flights on Sunday from five UK airports, after cancelling 32 flights on Friday from ten airports. The company blamed the CrowdStrike system failure on the airline’s crewing systems.
Some package deals were cancelled at short notice.
Customers who had booked a flight or hotel package that was cancelled will not be charged any admin fees. They can also switch to another TUI package if it is cheaper.
The customer will receive a voucher of £200 for future trips or £100 for the children.
All cancellations will be refunded in full, and the voucher will also be issued. Customers who only book flights will receive a full refund for any cancelled trips.
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority sent a letter to the airlines on Friday reminding them that they have an obligation to assist travellers by providing replacement flights and refreshments, as well as accommodation, if needed. The Civil Aviation Authority told the airlines that it was likely that this outage would be considered “extraordinary circumstances” and they wouldn’t have to pay a fixed amount of compensation.
Weather restrictions that were imposed on European skies Saturday did not help airlines in their battle to restore normal service.
EasyJet has said that it is not affected by CrowdStrike’s outage, but still struggles with flight delays caused by bad weather.
The company said that customers can rebook, or get a refund for hotel accommodations and meals if needed.
CrowdStrike announced on Sunday that the problem had been identified, and “a fix” has been deployed.
We are sorry for any inconvenience or disruption caused by this situation.
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