GP surgeries have said they are unable to access patient records or book appointments due to the major global IT outage.
Pharmacies also reported issues with accessing prescriptions from GP surgeries and said this would affect the delivery of medicines to patients.
NHS England has been contacted for comment after GP practices across England took to social media to report they cannot access the EMIS Web system.
It is understood that NHS hospitals are currently unaffected by the outage.
EMIS Web is the most widely used clinical system for primary care in the UK.
It enables GP practices to book appointments, examine records and includes a clinical decision support tool as well as helping with admin.
GP surgeries across the country affected by major IT outage. We anticipate this could last for many hours. Please bear with us during this challenging time.
— Wilmslow Health Centre (@WilmslowHealth) July 19, 2024
A spokesman for the National Pharmacy Association said pharmacies were affected.
He said: “We’re aware that due to global IT outages that services in community pharmacies, including the accessing of prescriptions from GPs and medicine deliveries, are disrupted today. We urge patients to be patient whilst visiting their pharmacy.
“We’re urgently raising this issue with the NHS England.”
The Wilmslow Health Centre in Cheshire wrote on X that practices “using the NHS commissioned GP computer system EMIS are currently without access to their IT systems”.
It added: “This is beyond the control of GP surgeries. Please bear with us until we have our IT systems back online.”
Solihull Healthcare Partnership in the West Midlands said there is a “national issue” with EMIS Web.
It said on X: “Unfortunately there is a national issue with EMIS Web – our clinical computer system.
“This will affect our ability to book/consult with patients this morning.
“We will update patients when we can. We apologise for the disruption.”
‼ IMPORTANT NOTICE ‼
— Windrush Medical Practice (@WindrushMedical) July 19, 2024
There is a nationwide outage of our booking system EMIS. We're continuing as normal for urgent enquiries but ask for routine concerns to wait until Monday. Please continue to submit your queries through Engage Consult. Thank you.
Windrush Medical Practice in Witney, Oxfordshire, said it is continuing as normal but urged patients with “routine concerns” to wait until Monday.
Its post on X said: “We’re continuing as normal for urgent enquiries but ask for routine concerns to wait until Monday.
“Please continue to submit your queries through Engage Consult.”
Other GP surgeries hit by the outage have said the issue “will have a big effect”.
Central Lakes Medical Group in Ambleside wrote on X: “We’re impacted by the IT outage.
“This will have a big effect on us, so apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused, and delays on the phone.”
Another post by Pocklington Group Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire said: “Due to ongoing Windows issues affecting IT worldwide, the practice is currently unable to function as normal.
“This may result in appointments needing to be cancelled and rearranged. Updates will follow when available.”
One GP practice website displayed the following message: “We are affected by a third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally.
“Our IT support is working with the relevant parties to restore service as soon as possible.
“We do not have access to our clinical systems and will be providing a skeleton service only. Some patients will unfortunately have to be turned away.”
