GP fears patients will suffer harm after NHS cyber attack
A GP hit by a cyber attack on the NHS in London has told Sky News he is worried patients will suffer long and short-term harm.
The health service has launched an urgent appeal for O blood-type donors following last Monday’s ransomware attack that has affected some of the largest hospitals in the capital.
Six large NHS Trusts were impacted including hospitals such as Guy’s and St Thomas’, Great Ormond Street and King’s College Hospital. Hundreds of operations have already been cancelled.
Dr James Taylor
Dr James Taylor, a partner at the South Street Medical Centre in Greenwich, southeast London, told Sky News his surgery was told to cancel all routine blood tests last Monday when Synnovis, a company contracted by the NHS to perform blood tests, was targeted by hackers.
He said: “We were informed that the IT systems were down to process our blood results. So we were asked very urgently to cancel all of our blood test appointments. So immediately we had to cancel all our clinics. And they’re still cancelled.
“We are not booking any more patients in. And we’ve been told that we can’t book any more patients in until the end of June. So we’re waiting for an update on that.”
Primary care has also been hit hard. Dr Taylor’s practice alone cares for 10,000 patients. Not one of them can have a routine blood test.
He said: “We all have been told that we can still send urgent results but there’s no way for them to send any of the information to us electronically.
“So yes, we’ve had to kind of alter the way that we work. We’ve had to supervise our staff here and decide what tests we can do and what we can’t do, and that is changing on a daily basis.”
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Qilin, a Russian group of cyber criminals, are understood to have been behind the attack.
Dr Taylor is worried about short and long-term harm to his patients.
He said: “There is a risk. There’s always a risk. This has been going on for about a week now, so hopefully it’s not too much longer because if you keep delaying these investigations by another few weeks or a month, then obviously the risk increases.
“But at the moment where we’re doing our best to manage it and hoping it’s a short-term problem.”
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He added: “We couldn’t go on and not perform blood tests on people. And for blood tests that were perhaps slightly abnormal that we’d want to repeat. Those things are having to be delayed at the moment.”
Dr Taylor’s surgery would normally request around 125 blood tests a week.
With up to four investigations for each test, that is nearly 1,000 results every week. And that is just in this practice.
In Greenwich, some 300,000 patients have been affected. Across London, that figure is much higher.
Dr Taylor has been told to expect a severe disruption to services at least until the end of the month. Clearing up the backlog and the fallout from this cyber attack will take much longer.
England star Jess Carter says she has been the victim of racist abuse online during the UEFA Women’s Euros in Switzerland.
The Lionesses defender, who has 49 England caps, said she will be “taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with”.
In an Instagram post, the 27-year-old player said: “From the start of the tournament, I have experienced a lot of racial abuse. Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result, I don’t agree or think it’s ok to target someone’s appearance or race.”
Jess Carter. Pic: PA
Carter said she was stepping back from social media to “protect myself in a bid to keep my focus on helping the team anyway I can”.
She added: “Hopefully speaking out will make the people writing this abuse think twice so that others won’t have to deal with it.”
Carter also said that England have made some “historic changes with the Lionesses squad” that she was “so proud” of, and she hopes that by speaking out about racial abuse “it will make another positive change for all”.
‘Abhorrent abuse’
The Football Association leadership has condemned the “abhorrent abuse” against Carter and has contacted UK police about it.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said in a statement: “Our priority is Jess and giving her all the support she needs. We strongly condemn those responsible for this disgusting racism.
“As soon as we were made aware of the racist abuse Jess received, we immediately contacted UK police. They are in touch with the relevant social media platform, and we are working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice.”
Carter during a training session in Switzerland. Pic: PA
The Lionesses said in a statement: “We stand with Jess and all Lionesses players past and present who have suffered racism.
“No one should have to endure such vile abuse, be that in football or any walk of life.”
They added: “Those behind this online poison must be held accountable.”
Anger and sadness
England teammate Lucy Bronze said there was “anger” and “sadness” among the squad following the abuse.
Bronze said: “I think we all know that any player of colour that’s played for England has probably gone through racist abuse. That’s a sad fact.”
She told Sky News’ sports correspondent Rob Harris that social media platforms need to be held more accountable.
Bronze added: “People need to be held accountable for their actions, whether it’s in-person or online. The abuse is not okay. Racism is not okay.”
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The prime minister said on X that there was “no place for racism in football or anywhere in society”.
Sir Keir Starmer added: “I stand with Jess, the Lionesses, and any players who have suffered racism, on and off the pitch.”
Carter has started all four of England’s games at the tournament.
The defending champions face Italy on Tuesday night in Geneva in the Euros semi-finals. If they win and reach the final, they will play either Germany or Spain, who face each other on Wednesday.
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The Lionesses also said that until now, they have chosen to take the knee before matches.
“It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism,” they said.
England won’t be taking the knee before semi-final
The Lionesses said they have agreed as a squad to remain standing before kick-off in the match against Italy.
“We hope the game can come together to see what more can be done.”
Kneeling, a symbolic anti-racism gesture, came to prominence in 2016 when NFL player Colin Kaepernick knelt in protest during the United States national anthem and became more widespread during the Black Lives Matter movement.
As head of football’s anti-racism body, there was dread for Sanjay Bhandari watching England’s Women’s Euros quarter-final with Sweden.
But that’s, grimly, how it always is. Concerned that black players will be singled out for blame. Not with a legitimate critique of their performances, but with toxicity and racism.
And now Kick It Out is working with the Football Association to support Jess Carter after the England defender spoke out over the abuse she has been targeted with throughout the Women’s European Championship.
The players want social media firms to do more, but Mr Bhandari, the Kick It Out chairman, is concerned by their limited approach to the scourge of online hate.
Jess Carter says she has been the target of racist abuse. Pic: PA
“The social media companies need to do far more,” he told Sky News. “They’ve actually gone backwards over the last four or five years, not forwards. It’s got worse on social media, not better.
“And they need to provide us with the tools to help keep us safe and to remove some of this toxicity from the platforms. They’re just not doing enough.
“I would say that X is the worst. It has become no-holds-barred.
“And with Instagram, it is much more in the direct messaging, and I think there needs to be much more done there to protect people from those messages.”
Meta, which owns Instagram, did not reply to a request for comment.
There was no response from an email sent to X’s press email address.
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‘People need to be held accountable’ after Euros racism
LinkedIn indicated that X’s UK managing director Jonathan Lewis’s account had seen a request for comment, but there was no response.
On Friday, Mr Lewis and Premier League club Burnley were celebrating a new partnership in an announcement that made no mention of the abuse that many players across the world face on X.
The hope is that the Online Safety Act will lead to social media firms implementing the safety tools required of them.
Mr Bhandari said: “They have to be enforced by law enforcement against individual perpetrators, and also the regulatory parts need to be forced against the social media companies to force them to do the things that they need to do.”
Grimly familiar situation
The FA reported the abuse suffered by Carter to police, and the hope is for speedy action because this is a grimly familiar situation.
After the men’s Euros final in 2021, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were racially abused after missing penalties in the shootout defeat to Italy.
Bukayo Saka was among the England players targeted after missing penalties in the Euros final. Pic: Reuters
While players have been taking a knee against racism in men’s and women’s games, the Lionesses feel that is no longer enough at these Euros.
They will stand instead before the semi-final with Italy because they say a new approach is needed to tackle racism.
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Carter didn’t just face racism around the quarter-final that England won on penalties after fighting back from 2-0 down against Sweden here in Zurich.
She has been subjected to abuse throughout the Euros.
“I’m really feeling for Jess and what’s sad is that this is shocking, but not surprising,” Mr Bhandari said.
“I watch every England game, at every tournament, with the fear that after the match, there’s going to be abuse of a black player using the spurious basis of performance as an excuse to justify unjustifiable racism. All racism is unjustifiable.
“The fact that someone’s had a good or bad game in your opinion does not justify that kind of racist abuse.”
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