A global outage at Microsoft has disrupted communications for NHS trusts in the West of England, raising concerns about potential impacts on hospital operations. The technical issue, which began on Thursday, has affected services including Teams, Outlook, and Copilot worldwide. Microsoft attributed the problem to an "elevated load" on its server infrastructure.
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust assured patients that essential services and procedures were continuing as normal. They advised patients with urgent enquiries to contact the relevant hospital department directly using the number on their appointment letter. Gloucestershire NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that staff were temporarily unable to send or receive emails, urging patients to call the relevant clinic or switchboard instead.
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) Community Health stated that its services were operating under "tried and tested business continuity plans." They encouraged patients to attend appointments as planned unless contacted otherwise, noting increased demand on phone lines. At around 09:30 GMT, Microsoft reported "early signs of stabilisation," though service capacity had not yet returned to normal levels.
Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna clarified that the issue was not caused by a cyber-security incident, ruling out any malicious activity. He expressed regret for the disruptions and confirmed that the company was working to address the problem.