Failures to crucial hospital IT system still unresolved

THE “critical incident” affecting the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead continues - with NHS IT experts drafted in to find a solution to a technology failure.

- SAM VOLPE

The issue has seen the Gateshead Health NHS Trust - which runs the hospital among other health services in the borough - hit by problems with the system NHS staff use to view patient scans and imaging. The trust first formally declared a critical incident early last week.

IT experts from the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and nearby NHS Trusts have been drafted in to seek to find the root cause of the issue - but as it stands there is no indication as to when the situation will be resolved.

The broken IT system has been described as “fundamental to safe patient care” but hospital bosses said staff were using alternative methods to view scans.