UPDATE: Outpatient appointments at Peterborough and Stamford hospitals cancelled for rest of the day

Peterborough City Hospital exteriors EMN-141118-141223009

The Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust declared a critical internal incident this morning due to technical issues with computer software systems which arose overnight.

At first patient appointments were cancelled until midday, but it has now been confirmed that the remaining appointments today will also not go ahead.

It is not yet clear whether appointments tomorrow will be cancelled or not.

The IT problems were first flagged up at about 3am this morning and since then the trust believes that nearly 300 outpatient appointments have been cancelled.

However, some patients who turned up at the hospitals because they did not know about the problems were still seen.

A trust spokeswoman said: “This is an evolving picture and we are working on a solution. All outpatient appointments have been cancelled for today as we are unable to access patient information records from computer systems.

“If you have a query about your appointment taking place today, you can contact the helpline on 0800 052 1042.”

Stephen Graves, chief executive, said: “We have cancelled appointments in the interest of patient safety.

“We have not made this decision lightly and sincerely apologise to those patients affected. We will reschedule cancelled appointments as early as possible.

“Patients with appointments today at both Peterborough City Hospital and Stamford Hospital have been impacted.

“Patient safety is our priority, therefore some operations have been cancelled.

“However, this has been decided on a case-by-case basis by the clinicians who are liaising directly with the patients.

“Engineers are on site and we are working closely with them to plan for a resolution to the issue. As this is an evolving picture we will continue to provide updates today.”