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\nHospitals in Auckland and Northland were impacted by the outage. (File photo)
\nPhoto: 123rf.com\n<\/p>\n
A massive IT outage at hospitals in Auckland and Northland is being blamed on cuts to Health NZ’s digital team, by a union representing public service workers.<\/p>\n
The Public Service Association (PSA) said its members were forced to use pen and paper during a computer systems outage lasting more than twelve hours from Wednesday night to Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
It said the outage had prevented clinicians from accessing patient information and blocked communications.<\/p>\n
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons told RNZ there was “complete chaos” as staff were forced to use paper-based systems and whiteboards.<\/p>\n
“This is entirely predictable, given the government forced cuts on Health New Zealand’s data and digital experts,” Fitzsimons said.<\/p>\n
An internal memo sent to hospital staff last night advised them to use whiteboards and paper tracking forms.<\/p>\n
“If hand-writing blood tube labels, please be super careful,” it read.<\/p>\n
“Lab results will be phoned through to areas and then sent on paper via the Lamson (pneumatic tube) systems – please make sure you check it regularly.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, Health NZ’s executive director for the northern region Andrew Brant confirmed the outage had affected several hospitals.<\/p>\n
“Health New Zealand hospitals in Te Tai Tokerau, Waitemat\u0101, Auckland and Counties Manukau experienced an IT outage yesterday impacting some clinical and operational systems,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The outage lasted around 12 hours with services restored to all impacted hospitals in the early hours of this morning.”<\/p>\n
He said patient care continued safely during those hours.<\/p>\n
“We are currently completing an incident debrief to identify any potential opportunities to improve our systems,” he said.<\/p>\n