Advice for community pharmacies and patients experiencing problems related to the Microsoft outage has been given by Community Pharmacy England (CPE).
The major global IT outage is affecting Microsoft systems, including Outlook, Teams, and Microsoft Authenticator.
Some digital systems used by pharmacies and GP practices that rely on Microsoft technology “will be experiencing impacts or may do so later,” CPE said. For example, NHS.net is powered by Outlook.
CPE said it is in contact with NHS England on the matter, and advised: “While certain core NHS clinical services such as the NHS Spine are separate from Microsoft 365, pharmacy teams may experience delays receiving emails from local NHS commissioners, GP surgeries, or IT suppliers, as well as disruptions to internal Teams, Outlook, and some Microsoft-related workflows.”
They have issued the following recommended actions.
Recommended actions for pharmacy teams
- Use telephone lines for urgent queries: If you are waiting on urgent prescription queries or clinical updates from local GP practices or NHS teams via email, contact them by phone or other available routes instead.
- IT service tickets: NHS and IT supplier helpdesks may be handling more service tickets than usual. Before logging non-urgent IT tickets regarding connectivity, check platform webpages or social media channels for updates. In the event you need to report something we have guidance on reporting here: cpe.org.uk/reportit.
- Monitor incoming emails: Avoid repeatedly resending emails where possible, as queued messages should begin filtering through as Microsoft restores full capacity.
- Invoke business continuity plans if needed: If local systems or communications are significantly disrupted, follow your standard pharmacy business continuity plan arrangements and keep a record of any affected services.
In addition, a message aimed at patients says: “If your pharmacy is experiencing knock-on delays, you may wish to let patients know that a global Microsoft outage is currently affecting NHS and healthcare communications, and ask them to bear with your team while services recover.”
Statement from NHS England
NHS England has advised: "With the global Microsoft issue inevitably having a disruptive impact for staff, local NHS services are enacting long-standing measures to manage IT outages and ensure critical services and appointments can continue for patients today – including using other IT systems or paper records where possible.
“Patients should continue to use 999 in an emergency, and otherwise use 111, 111 online, or their local pharmacy, and come forward for appointments unless told otherwise.”
Early signs of stabilisation
Microsoft has reportedly said they are seeing "early signs of stabilisation" and had made "additional progress toward service recovery" in the Asia Pacific region.
It said that at this time there is "no evidence of malicious activity", the BBC reported.
