Bulletin · News 61
Image source, PA Image caption, Teams, Outlook and Microsoft's artificial intelligence software Copilot are affected By Ros Tappenden South of England Police forces, hospitals, GP surgeries and councils across the south of England have been sharing advice and updates after a global Microsoft outage left them without email access. Most say they are continuing to operate as normal but some online forms and electronic-based services are not working and there may be delays to enquiries. The region's three police forces - Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Thames Valley and Dorset - all said their phone lines were working and they were able to respond to emergencies but their online reporting systems were down.
Hospitals have asked outpatients to attend booked appointments, adding there was no need to check they were going ahead. Microsoft 365 Services, including Teams, Outlook and Microsoft's artificial intelligence software Copilot, have been affected by "connectivity problems" . Microsoft has said the outage was not caused by a cyber-security incident, but efforts to fix the issues on Friday had so far been unsuccessful.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Police said their ability to answer and respond to 999 and 101 calls had not been impacted In a Facebook update on Friday morning, Dorset Police said: "We are currently unable to receive online form submissions. Until this is resolved, if your report is time-critical but not an emergency, please dial 101. "If your report can wait until Microsoft restores its service, please submit an online form once you are able to do so." Hampshire police sought to allay fears about the effect of the outage on services.
It said: "We can confirm that our ability to answer and respond to 999 and 101 calls has not been impacted by the widely reported issues with Microsoft. "We know that the current situation will be causing concern... but our ability to respond to emergencies has not been compromised." Image source, Isle of Wight NHS Trust Image caption, Isle of Wight NHS Trust said plans were in place to minimise disruption and maintain safe patient care Isle of Wight NHS Trust said its emergency services remained operational through the outage and teams had "established plans in place to minimise disruption and maintain safe patient care". It said: "If your enquiry is urgent, please contact the relevant service by telephone rather than email where possible." Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "Our services remain operational, but there may be delays in responding to enquiries.
"If you need to contact us, please telephone us rather than email. "If you have an appointment with us, please attend as planned. There is no need to contact us to confirm your appointment." Tower House GP surgery in Ryde said the outage could affect some of its services, with delays responding to online consultations, hospital letters and discharge documents.
It said it was prioritising urgent clinical matters and patient safety. Image caption, Slough Borough Council said staff had been redeployed to phone lines Slough Borough Council in Berkshire said staff at its customer service centre who usually dealt with email enquiries had been transferred onto the phones but urged people only to call if their request was urgent because lines were expected to be busy. East Hampshire District Council said its emails were down but residents registered on its MyEHDC system could still use the general enquiries form.
Lyme Regis Town Council in Dorset said it was using a mobile phone number for urgent issues because its telephone lines were also affected and working intermittently. Get in touch Your Voice
Source: BBC
