A patient’s death has now been officially connected to a cyber attack that targeted the NHS last year.
The attack caused major problems with 1,100 cancer treatments delayed, 2,000 outpatient appointments cancelled and more than 1,000 operations postponed.
Now, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed that this is the first patient death linked to that cyber attack, as per Sky News.
It said in a statement, "One patient sadly died unexpectedly during the cyber attack. The patient safety incident investigation identified number of contributing factors that led to the patient's death."
The statement continued, "This included a long wait for a blood test result due to the cyber attack impacting pathology services at the time."
It added, "We have met with the patient's family, and shared the findings of the safety investigation with them."
The IT company Synnovis, which handles blood test services in southeast London was hit by a ransomware cyber attack on June 3, last year.
Deryck Mitchelson, a former chief information security officer for NHS Scotland said, "The death now confirmed is tragic, but it is not surprising."
NHS services disrupted and private records exposed in shocking cyber breach:
This attack is believed to have been done by the Russian group Qilin.
The attack affected several hospital trusts, including Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College and Lewisham and Greenwich.
It also disrupted services in primary care across six boroughs and impacted two mental health trusts.
Not only this, private and important information taken from an NHS provider during a cyber attack was reportedly put on the internet for others to see.
