A critical incident at pathology system provider Synnovis has disrupted services at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and primary care across south east London.
Synnovis, a partnership between SYNLAB UK & Ireland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT, and King’s College Hospital NHS FT, is responsible for transforming hospital-based laboratory and diagnostic services into an integrated ‘hub and spoke’ pathology network for south east London.
According to an email sent to staff on 3 June 2024 by Professor Ian Abbs, chief executive at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT, an “ongoing critical incident” at Synnovis has impacted pathology services, with blood transfusions being particularly affected. Some services have been redirected to other providers while contingency plans are put in place.
The incident has also affected King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and primary care across south east London. An incident response structure has been implemented to manage the situation.
Synnovis implemented a Laboratory Information Management System in October 2023 to streamline systems at both NHS trusts. In April 2024, SYNLAB Italia faced a cyber attack that disrupted its operations.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway is also dealing with a cyber incident involving patient data on the dark web. As of now, Synnovis and SYNLAB have not provided any comments on the situation.
