Hospitals across Northern Ireland’s Southern Health Trust were plunged into chaos this week after a rare and significant IT failure forced ambulance diversions, widespread cancellations of surgeries and outpatient appointments, and left staff scrambling to provide care using pen and paper. While the Trust says all IT systems have now been restored, the fallout from the incident continues to ripple through the region’s health services, with many patients facing lengthy delays and renewed questions about the resilience of Northern Ireland’s critical healthcare infrastructure.
The crisis began on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, when both the main and backup data centers serving the Southern Health Trust suddenly failed. According to the BBC, the outage affected major hospitals including Daisy Hill in Newry and Craigavon Area Hospital in County Armagh. As a direct result, ambulances were diverted away from these hospitals, and the Trust issued an urgent plea for the public to avoid attending any of its hospitals unless absolutely necessary. “It’s very, very rare for both to go down,” Dr. Stephen Austin, the Trust’s medical director, told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster. “But the important thing is we have put in place plans to make sure that we provide safe care for the patients that we have under our roof already and that’s what we did.”
By Wednesday night, the Trust confirmed that the technical issues had been resolved and all IT systems were restored, but not without significant disruption. “We can confirm that the IT issues which have caused disruption to our services today have been resolved and all systems have been restored,” the Trust said in a statement. “We will be testing our systems overnight and they will be reconnected in a phased manner tomorrow.” Staff continued to use manual methods to record patient information during the outage, with Dr. Austin noting, “Staff were using pens and paper to maintain patient records during the IT outage.”
Despite the restoration of IT services, the impact on patient care has been profound. Most planned surgeries and outpatient appointments remained cancelled on Thursday, September 18, and will need to be rescheduled. The Trust emphasized that community services were expected to operate as normal, but hospital services would take time to recover. “Whilst community services are expected to operate as normal today, most planned surgeries and out-patient hospital appointments remain cancelled and will be rescheduled,” the Trust stated. Staff have contacted affected patients, promising to reschedule all appointments and surgeries as soon as possible.
The cancellation of critical procedures has left patients and families reeling. Ciara Corr, whose husband John has prostate cancer, described the emotional toll of the delays. “We waited five weeks for the second appointment and now we have to wait another seven weeks because it was cancelled yesterday,” she told BBC’s The Nolan Show. “The procedure is not a very pleasant one and my husband had went yesterday all geared up and ready to go, to be told it’s cancelled. Fair enough, but then to be told seven weeks for another appointment is quite a long time. It’s very, very stressful. Although we have been told that it can be treated... it could be potentially worse… it just adds to the stress.”
Others echoed her frustration. Naomi Muldrew’s partner, who was due for a biopsy on Thursday after a red flag referral, also saw his appointment postponed. “It’s really unfair and they’re just not very well prepared for anything like this happening,” she said on Good Morning Ulster. “It’s just not good enough – people left worrying themselves sick for even longer now.”
Throughout the ordeal, the Trust prioritized emergency and critically ill patients, but the strain on hospital resources was evident. Ambulance services were eventually restored to normal at both Craigavon Area and Daisy Hill Hospitals, though the Trust acknowledged that both remained under significant pressure. “The ambulance divert has now been stood down for Daisy Hill Hospital, however Craigavon Area Hospital remains under significant pressure, therefore a divert will remain in place until later this evening,” the Trust explained.
Importantly, the Trust and its partners have ruled out cybercrime as the cause of the outage. “This is a pure technical issue that we’ve been working with external partners to resolve,” Dr. Austin told the BBC. “It has been resolved and we are stepping up to full service again over the course of the next few hours this morning. We’re just making sure we’re bringing it back in a phased controlled manner so that it’s entirely stable.” The Department of Health confirmed it was made aware of the major incident on Wednesday morning and launched an “urgent investigation.”
In the wake of the disruption, the Trust issued public apologies and thanked the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS), other Trusts, and the wider Health and Social Care (HSC) system for their support. “We are hugely grateful for the support of NIAS, other Trusts and the wider HSC system who have been supporting us throughout the day,” the Trust said. “It will take some time for normal business to be fully restored, and we sincerely apologise once again for the disruption.” The Trust also established a helpline for affected patients, open until 8:00 PM BST on Thursday, September 18, to provide information and reassurance to those whose care had been delayed.
The incident has reignited debate over the vulnerabilities of a health system that has rapidly digitized in recent years. Patrick Mulholland of the union Nipsa pointed out that the move to digital records had left the system exposed when technology fails. “The people who would have kept the records in the past are being stripped out of the system because we’ve now got this super computer system instead,” he said. “I think it’s been suddenly revealed just how vulnerable that has left the health system. So the people who would normally be keeping records etc in a written form – the admin staff – they’re not there, so clinical staff are having to scramble around and plug the gaps.”
Politicians across the spectrum have called for answers and greater transparency. Diane Dodds, a member of Stormont’s health committee, urged the health minister to address the Assembly about the wider implications of the incident. “We really do have to worry about the resilience of our system if such a critical piece of healthcare infrastructure can go down in this kind of catastrophic way,” she said. “I do think the health minister should come to the floor of the assembly and tell us about the resilience of the system. Could this happen across a variety of different trusts at different times or at the same time? What is the back-up plan?” Alliance Party MLA Eóin Tennyson said the events raised “serious questions about the functionality of critical infrastructure in our health service.” Sinn Féin MLA Linda Dillon welcomed a full investigation, noting that patients would “rightly be extremely upset and anxious” and deserved “clarity” about their appointments.
As the Southern Health Trust works to reschedule appointments, restore normal services, and answer mounting questions, the incident stands as a stark reminder of both the promise and peril of digital transformation in healthcare. For many patients, the wait continues—and so too does the debate about how best to safeguard the systems on which so many lives depend.
