INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS AND SERVICE USERS
Last updated: 18 July 2024
On 3 June 2024 there was a cyber (internet) attack on the NHS Hospitals in London. At present we cannot carry out routine blood, urine, stool or swab samples until further notice. We are now able to process urgent and critical tests. Tests are being prioritised in order of clinical urgency. Your clinician will tell you what priority your test is.
Urgent tests
We are able to do urgent tests as of 14 June. Your clinician will give you a form and you will need to bring this to St Thomas’ or King’s College Hospital, no appointment is needed. We cannot do these at the GP surgery. Urine, stool, and swab samples can be provided back to reception. The form has to have ‘urgent’ typed on it.
The NHS has defined ‘Urgent’ as requiring an investigation that is essential to inform short-term treatment which cannot be determined or safely administered without the investigation(s) eg 3-4 days. It is important to note that most requests for tests will not meet the above criteria.
If you have been told in the last couple of weeks that you need an urgent test and are still waiting for this, please contact us again to update us on your symptoms and we will reassess if you still need an urgent test. Use this form to submit your information online, or contact reception.
Important tests
We are able to do important tests as of 4 July. Your clinician will give you a form and you will need to bring this to St Thomas’ or King’s College Hospital, no appointment is needed. We cannot do these at the GP surgery. Urine, stool, and swab samples can be provided back to reception. The form has to have ‘urgent’ typed on it.
The NHS has defined ‘Important’ as requiring an investigation that is essential to inform short-term treatment which cannot be determined or safely administered without the investigation(s) eg 1 week. It is important to note that many requests for tests will not meet the above criteria.
If you have been told in the last couple of weeks that you need an ‘important’ test and are still waiting for this, please contact us again to update us on your symptoms and we will reassess if you still need an important test. Use this form to submit your information online, or contact reception.
Routine tests
These are not available yet. Please check this page in a few weeks for updates. Please note that routine tests are not ‘un-important’ – but rather ‘important’ is simply the word chosen by the NHS to help clarify the urgency.
Your clinician will advise you at your appointment what priority your test is. It is not possible to change this priority level. The hospital will not do blood tests and will discard samples that do not meet the above criteria. If your symptoms change, please fill in this form, or contact reception. This is a major incident which is outside of our control and we are following NHS guidance. Unfortunately we do not have a timeline for non-urgent tests to restart, but please keep checking this page for updates. Thank you for your patience.
Test results from beginning of June
We have now been advised that all results which were processed have been received by us. Therefore, if you are waiting for a result that we have not received, this has unfortunately not been processed. We are processing a list of all patients affected. If you are waiting for a test result, please complete a new appointment form or contact reception - please update us on your symptoms and we will advise you on when we can do your test.
Media reports of data leak
If you have any questions regarding media reports of implications of the cyber attack, please refer to these FAQs - (https://digital.nhs.uk/news/synnovis-cyber-incident/synnovis-cyber-incident---public-questions-and-answers).
