THE NHS computer systems used by Northumbria NHS Trust and hospitals in York and Scarborough are among dozens affected by a cyber attack on the NHS.

Hospitals in North Tyneside, Northumbria and North Yorkshire have been affected by a major cyber attack on NHS computer systems.

The hospitals affected include North Tyneside General Hospital, Wansbeck General Hospital, Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital and hospitals in York, Scarborough and Malton are among those experiencing major problems with their IT systems, with reports systems have completely crashed following the attack. 

On Saturday morning, Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group issued the following advice to patients:

Pharmacies and prescriptions

If patients need urgent supplies of repeat prescription medication they are advised to contact a pharmacy they are known to which will try to help with the request.

If you are unable to obtain supplies from your local pharmacy please contact NHS 111.

The local community is reminded that pharmacies provide confidential, expert advice and treatment for a range of common illnesses and ailments.

Primary Care and GP practices in the Vale of York

It is hoped that most GP surgeries will be open as normal on Monday morning. Some patients may face longer delays where their practices’ computers have been affected by the cyberattack.

Think twice about going to A&E

The community is asked to make NHS 111 their first port of call if they need medical help fast but it's not a 999 emergency;

111, the fast, easy and free NHS non-emergency number is unaffected and remains available. Please call 111 if you need health information or reassurance about what to do next when it is not a life-threatening situation.

The statement added: "Local health and care organisations would like to reassure patients that should they need the NHS in an emergency situation that they should access services as they would normally.

"More widely, the community is asked to please use local health and care services carefully while the NHS deals with this ongoing major incident."

On Friday, Northumbria NHS Trust's website advised people to avoid using A&E unless it involved a serious or life-threatening emergency, a message reitereated by the North East Ambulance Service, which tweeted a reminder to only use it for emergency health care. 

At the moment it is understood the malware variant is Wanna Decryptor and is affecting organisations across a number of sectors.

The extent to which this will impact patient care is not yet clear.

GP surgeries in York have been affected with York Medical Group - which has surgeries in Monkgate, Acomb, Clifton and Woodthorpe - confirming its system has crashed.

South Tees, which runs James Cook and the Friarage Hospitals, said it is not affected, stating: “We have not been infected by the virus and we are doing everything we can to ensure our systems remain as secure as possible.”

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said although its systems were not affected, it had taken “precautionary steps to minimise the impact.”

At least 30 health service organisations in England and Scotland were infiltrated by the malicious software, while many others shut down servers as a precautionary measure, bringing added disruption.

Doctors reported seeing computers go down "one by one" as the "ransomware" took hold on Friday, locking machines and demanding money to release the data.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said teams were "working round the clock" in response to the attack as it was reported up to 99 countries, including the US and Russia, were hit.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the Government is not aware of any evidence patient records had been compromised.

"This is not targeted at the NHS, it's an international attack and a number of countries and organisations have been affected," she added.

However shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the attack was "terrible news and a real worry for patients" and urged the Government to be "clear about what's happened".

Home Secretary Amber Rudd will chair a Cobra meeting in Whitehall at 2.30pm.

Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of 300 US dollars worth of the online currency Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!"

It adds: "Maybe you are looking for a way to recover your files, but do not waste your time."

It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days the files will be deleted.

Hospitals and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in London, Blackpool, Hertfordshire and Derbyshire were among those to report problems.

St Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs The Royal London, St Bartholomew's, Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals in London, said it had implemented its major incident plan to cope with disruption.